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. “ The Committee appointed by the Vestry on March 24th, 
1845, to superintend the laying of the corner-stone of 
Grace Church, respectfully submit the following report : 

“ The corner-stone of the new edifice was laid by the 
Bishop of the Diocese on the 8th of April, 1845, with all 
the solemnities and devotions usual before such occasions.” 

Extract from the minutes of the Vestry. 

“ Pkovidence, June 2d, 1846. 

Tuesday in Whitsun Week. 

On this day the new and splendid edifice erected by the 
Corporation of Grace Church, was solemnly dedicated to the 
service of Almighty God by the Rt. Rev. John Prentiss 
Kewley Henshaw, 1). 1)., Bishop of Rhode Island, assisted 
by Bishop Doane of New Jersey, Bishop Eastburn of 
Massachusetts, and by several of the Reverend Clergy of 
the Diocese of Rhode Island and other Dioceses.” 

Extract from the minutes of the Vestry. 













“It was unanimously voted, That this Corporation 
appoint a Committee to purchase the Providence Theatre, 
if it can be obtained for the sum of six thousand dollars, 
for the purpose of converting the same into a house of 
public worship, to be occupied by this church.” 

Extract from the minute s of a corporation meeting , held 
February 3d , 1 832. 

“ Voted, That the consecration of the church shall take 
place on Thursday, the 15th inst., and that the Warden be re- 
quested to confer with Bishop Griswold on the subject.” 

Extract from the minutes of a vestry meeting , held No- 
vember 3d , 1832. 



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T II E 

HALF CENTURY 

JUBILEE 


GRACE CHURCH 

Providence, Rhode Island. 

1829 . 1879 . 


WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 






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PROVIDENCE 

SIDNEY S . RIDER. 

1880. 


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On the following pages will be found the Sermons preached in 
Grace Church at the time of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Organi- 
zation of the Parish. They are printed just as they were delivered 
at the time, and in the same order. There will also be found, in 
addition to a heliotype print of the Rectory, of the old Grace Church 
building, and of the present structure, heliotype portraits of all the 
Rectors Grace Church has had. It was thought that those persons 
who would be interested in this little volume at all, would be all 
the more interested because of its possessing these features. 

The publisher begs to say in regard to the publication of this 
little memorial that it has long been printed, in fact was nearly 
ready for publication in December last, when the lire in Boston 
which destined the Ileliotype Printing Co., burned all the portraits 
which had been printed for it, and all the negatives and engravings 
which had been, and were being used. He had to begiu anew. 

The drawing of the Church is an original one, made for the book, 
and is believed to be the first, and in fact the only one as yet made 
which at all represents the edifice. 


0 


ORDER OF SERVICES. 


♦ 

FIJI DAY MAY lfixil. 

7.30 p. m. The celebration of the Holy Communion with sermon by 
the present Hector, the Rev. 1)ayid H. Greek. 

SATURDAY, MAY 17th. 

11 a. m. Morning prayer, with sermon by the Rev. Samuel Fuller, 
D. D., Professor in Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Conn., — the 
first Rector of Grace Church. 

5 p. m. Evening prayer, with an historical discourse by the Rt. Rev. 
Thomas M. Clark, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of the Diocese. 

* 

SUNDAY, MAY 18 th. 

10.45 a. m. Morning prayer, with sermon by the Rev. Alexander 
H. Vinton, D. D. 

7.30 p. m. Evening prayer, with sermon by the Rev. C. George 
Currie, D. D., Rector of St. Luke’s Church, Philadelphia. 



































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The Rectory of (trace ( -hureh was begun in the spring of 
1877, and finished and occupied in the spring of 1878. 











I. 









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Entered 


UPON THE RECTORSHIP OF GRACE ClIURCH, 


September 15tii, 1872. 































SERMON 


PREACHED AT 

THE OPENING OF THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, 

GRACE CHURCH, PROVIDENCE, R. I., 


Friday: Evening, May 16th, 1879. 


BY THE REV. DAVID H. GREER. 



SERMOX. 


Hebrews xii., 1st and part of 2nd. — “Wherefore seeing we also are 
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every 
weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with 
patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus.” 

I. 

Friends and Brethren: — Fifty years have elapsed 
since the first sermon was preached in Grace Church 
Parish by the Eight Beverend Alexander Viets Gris- 
wold, L). D., Bishop of the Eastern Diocese. From 
that time to this the Parish then inaugurated has been 
steadily increasing in numbers and strength until it has 
come to assume its present considerable proportions. 
There are those here to-night who can remember this 
adult when it was a child, who were identified, more or 
less, with its youthful career. Its early struggles were 
their struggles. Its early hopes and anxieties, trembling 
in the balance, were their hopes and anxieties ; and the 
phases of experience through which it passed are the 
phases of experience through which they passed. Its 
official record is part of their personal life. Its history 
is their reminiscence, and its measure of success is a 
measure of their reward. 


4 


To all those persons, therefore, both clerical and lay, 
who have done so much towards building up this Parish 
into solidness and permanency of structure, I give 
to-night, in the name of the Parish, a most affectionate 
greeting, and extend a most cordial welcome. 

In the work, however, of building up the kingdom 
of Christ in any particular field on earth, the process 
can never be said to be complete. The appointed 
laborers come, at appointed times, perform their several 
tasks, as they have gift and opportunity, then retire 
altogether from this earthly scene or withdraw to other 
engagements. But the task itself, once begun, is an 
endless task, and the superstructure of one period is 
but the foundation for the builders of another. 

Fifty years ago the ground was broken, and the work 
upon this Parish-temple was commenced. From that 
time until now “ hath it been in building, and yet it is 
not finished.” I do not propose to-night to tell the 
story of the past, that will be done by another, at a 
later stage in these exercises. Neither shall I under- 
take the dangerous experiment of trying to forecast the 
future. But in response to what seems to be the re- 
quirement of the occasion, I shall venture here, in the 
presence of the sons and daughters and friends of Grace 
Church, to “consider the race that is set before us” 
to-day, the great duty devolving upon the Christian 
Church, and therefore upon all parochial fractions of 
that great integer at the present time. 

What is that duty] Comprehensively stated, it is the 
duty of trying to redeem the life of this generation 
from a debasing and engrossing materialism, by the 


5 


quickening power of a positive faith in a supernatural 
and spiritual world. To a consideration of that topic 
I ask your attention. 

II. 

You cannot be unaware — it is not worth while for 
me to assume that you are unaware — that there is a 
current of thought, that there is a line of influence in 
our time whose tendency is to undermine or weaken 
faith in the reality of the supernatural. It does not 
pretend to say that there is no supernatural background 
to human life and the universe. It simply declares 
that that supernatural background has not yet been dis- 
cerned with such clearness and fullness of apprehension 
as to justify any positive affirmation concerning it by 
anybody whatsoever, and that confessed ignorance, how- 
ever lamentable, is a better and healthier state of mind 
than the fancy without the reality of knowledge. 

“If I am asked,” says one* whose words are much 
quoted in these days, “ if I am asked whether science 
has solved, or is likely in our day to solve, the mystery 
of the universe, I must shake my head in doubt ” ; but 
then he adds, “ if the materialist is confounded and 
science is rendered dumb, who else is prepared with an 
answer?” “ The rational attitude of a thinking mind 
towards the supernatural in religion,” says John Stuart 
Mill, “is that of the purest scepticism, as distinguished 
from a positive belief on the one hand and a positive 
unbelief on the other.” “ The only attitude which, in 

* Dr. Tyndall in an article on “ Virchow and Evolution,” in the Nineteenth Century 
for November, 1878. 


6 


strict logic,” says the anonymous author, “ Physicus,” 
in his book on Theism, which it is admissible to adopt 
towards the question concerning the being of a God, is 
that of “suspended judgment”; and “ this,” he adds, 
“ is the attitude which the great majority of scientifi- 
cally-trained philosophers in our day actually have 
adopted in regard to the matter.” 

Now this doubtfulness, this uncertainty, touching the 
supernatural and the reality of the spiritual, is by no 
means confined to the laboratory of the physicist, and 
the study of the philosopher, but is distilling, by subtle, 
untraceable, imperceptible processes, down into the 
street, into the drawing room, into the market-place, and 
is permeating, more or less all minds ; for whatever 
the current of thought that is flowing at any period 
in the upper stratum of intellectualism, it is sure in 
time to send its moisture throughout all the strata below, 
so that it is not only in the higher circles of thought, 
but among people generally, that we find to-day a great 
and lamentable want of theological assurance, of posi- 
tive faith and conviction, and a little weakening of 
belief in the reality of the supernatural all along the 
line of doctrine, from belief in “ hell ” to belief in 
“ heaven.” 

People do not invite this incertitude to come on, as 
Bacon says, by “ an over-buckling towards it.” The 
incertitude is in the air, they breathe it, they absorb it, 
it somehow gets into the system, it stays there like an 
intruder, or like a most unwelcome guest, undermining 
old confidences, insinuating new and at times startling 
suggestions, and provoking strange inquiries. 


7 


While it were a great mistake, therefore, upon the 
part of the Christian Church to-day to ignore such a 
condition of doubt, inasmuch as such an ignoring would 
make the church anachronistic in her ministrations, 
while it were a great mistake upon the part of the 
Christian Church to denounce such a condition of doubt, 
inasmuch as such denunciation would imply an utter 
misapprehension of the character of that doubt, it were 
a still greater and more lamentable mistake upon the 
part of the Christian Church if she should do anything 
to encourage it, inasmuch as such encouragement would 
be a surrender upon the part of the Christian Church 
of one of the very first and noblest of her functions. 

For what is the Christian Church, and therefore all 
parishes that compose the Christian Church! Not an 
aesthetic club, not even an ethical club, not a grand, 
venerable institution for sentimental exercisings. Her 
primary office is to teach and enforce religion, and 
the primary office of religion is to teach and enforce 
faith in the supernatural, to conduct men into a positive 
belief in the reality of a supernatural world, to seek 
to establish their lines of life, their conduct, their 
emotional, their moral, and their intellectual nature 
upon a supernatural and spiritual basis. That, to be 
sure, has been the great duty confronting, and the “ race 
set before ” the Christian Church at every period in her 
history. But it is in an especial sense the duty confront- 
ing and the “ race set before ” her to-day. The Chris- 
tian Church to-day is challenged, not at the outworks, 
but at the very central citadel of her faith, and she 
must meet that challenge, she must face the enemy 


8 


squarely, and attempt most earnestly and conscientiously 
the performance of the great duty that is thrust upon 
her. She may not try to hide her head or take refuge 
in the alias or disguise of certain very plausible and 
most bewildering phrases, — speaking of God as a 
“ stream of tendency,” or as a “ power that makes for 
righteousness,” or as a “ cosmic force,” — or of the doc- 
trine of immortality as a “ posthumous influence that 
survives physical decay and outlives the tomb,” — hop- 
ing by means of such an alias , like a culprit self-con- 
demned, to escape the vigilance of the police. Never, 
I think, has there been a time in the history of the 
Christian Church wdien it was more important than it is 
to-day for her to point with steady, unwavering index 
to those high, supernatural verities and spiritual reali- 
ties on which religion rests, and in which she herself 
finds her raison d'etre. 

That, then, is the race that we have before us ; that 
is the duty we are to try to perform; — nothing lower 
than that. How shall we run that race ? how shall 
we perform that duty? 

III. 

This brings me to say that the sanction of a super- 
natural faith, — the only sanction and enforcement 
which it is possible for parish Christianity to give, — 
possibly the only sanction required, — is the sanction 
or enforcement of a supernatural life. Consider this 
matter a few minutes. 

Human nature is always unduly dominated, and cir- 
cumscribed in its capacity for belief, by the immediate 


9 


and the passing experience. The kind of life that we 
are living at any particular time is, for that particular 
time, and as far as we are concerned, almost the only 
kind of life. We may not be prepared to say that there 
is no range of legitimate experience lying beyond the 
borders of that particular experience ; but it does not 
strongly appeal to us, and we cannot easily believe in 
it. Every person looks out on life through the medium 
of his own engrossing occupation. To one person, this 
world is just a great and convenient opportunity in 
which to cultivate personal ambition and the love of 
power. To another it is a big and fruitful field in which 
to dig for money and get rich, and all things — even 
religion — all things are rated by standards of commer- 
cial value ; while to still another it is but a variegated 
pleasure -garden, where he can gratify his senses and 
appetites and the lusts and the prides of life. Alleged 
realities, apart from the strongly flowing current of the 
particular experience, are always indistinctly and scep- 
tically apprehended. It is not surprising, therefore, 
that in these days when material science has done so 
much for the benefit of society, when it has corrected 
so many disorders, broken down so many barriers in 
the path of a beneficent progress, multiplied so many 
conveniences about us, and contributed so efficiently to 
the development of a high and splendid civilization, it 
is not surprising that the men of this age, with such an 
undisturbed, vivid and grateful consciousness of mate- 
rial truth, should not be conscious much of any truth 
besides, or that material truth should come to be to 


10 


them “ the key-note of all truth.” It would be sur- 
prising if it were not so. They see and they feel con- 
tinually what material science has done. They are liv- 
ing under its influence perpetually, in all departments 
of life. Commerce has been quickened by it ; agricul- 
ture improved ; distance has been annihilated ; physi- 
cal pain relieved ; pestilence stayed ; disease arrested 
in its course ; health diffused ; thought accelerated ; 
words have been given wing, and manifold blessings dis- 
seminated ; railroads, telegraphs, telephones, micro- 
phones, microscopes, telescopes, printing presses,— “ubi- 
quity-engines in general!” What wonder that in the 
almost exclusive engrossment of the attention, with these 
inestimable benefits of physicial science, — what wonder 
that there should be but vague, dreamy, sceptical appre- 
hension of any alleged realities over the physical line. 

Why we all know, from our own experience, how we 
can become at times so engrossed in some one line of 
thought or conduct as not to know what is going on 
about us, the singing of the birds on the trees, the 
sounds upon the street, the forms of people passing by, 
even the striking of the clock upon the stairs or upon 
the mantel, — we are not conscious of any of these things. 
We are conscious only of that one thing that is going on 
so vehemently and so engrossingly in us ; until, by some 
sharply-asserting, interruptive influx of life from that 
outside world, that part of our nature which had been 
asleep is wakened up and we become conscious of the 
things that are going on about us. 

So upon this material age there must break in, through 
the agency of the Church, the sharply-asserting, inter- 


11 


ruptive influx of life from a world that is other than 
physical ; so that that part of the nature of this age which 
has been asleep may be wakened up, and that it may 
become conscious of, have developed in it, the capacity 
for believing in a great kingdom of God going on about 
it. Faith in the supernatural, in the reality of a spirit- 
ual universe, can not be enforced to-day by the sanction 
of Authority. That has had its day and it has ceased to 
be. Faith in the reality of the supernatural and the 
spiritual cannot be enforced to-day by the sanction of 
reason ; for reason brings in a verdict of “ suspended 
judgment.” Philosophy and Authority, are both exer- 
cised in vain; and the Church to-day must attempt the 
enforcement of a supernatural faith by returning 
to methods that are indeed primitive, as primitive as 
Jesus Christ, — and attempt the enforcement of a super- 
natural faith by the sanction and the reflection of a life 
that is impetused and motived by a belief in supernatural 
things. A relapse into “ obscurantism” will not do. 
The fulminating of a terroristic thunder that is no longer 
terroristic will not do. Making a gorgeous display of 
old, worn-out mythologic scenery, and dreaming over 
again the old and beautiful mediaeval dreams will not 
do ; will not do. Faith in a God, faith in a soul, faith 
in a spiritual kingdom, touching us, encompassing us, 
with a spiritual Christ at the head of it, must become 
to-day habilitated in flesh and blood and clothed in con- 
crete expression. It must get into our business and in- 
to our civilization with the railroad and the telegraph, 
so that men may become conscious of it as they are con- 
scious of a locomotive, of an engine, of a warehouse, of 


12 


a plough-share, of an oil painting upon the wall. They 
must look at it, touch it, handle it ; it must walk with 
them by the way, go with them into their houses, sit 
down with them at their tables and break bread with 
them, — so that that “ divine and superior sense of the 
soul,” of which John Bunyan speaks, may assert itself 
within them ; that they may come to recognize the 
legitimacy of that sense as an integral part of their 
nature, and that the data which it registers over the 
physical line are equally trustworthy with the data 
which are catalogued by the senses of the body. 

Do we not all know what it is to come into the 
consciousness of new worlds and into the possession of 
new faiths by coming into contact with some new and 
sublime life ? We stand before the patriot and as we 
stand there looking up into his loyal face we believe in 
patriotism. We stand before the soldier who has just 
come home from the wars— bringing a gallant record 
with him and scarred with many wounds, and we believe 
in courage. Pure and unalloyed nobleness of motive and 
conduct, supreme unselfishness and charity, utterly dis- 
interested benevolence, possibly we do not much believe 
in these things in the movement of our ordinary life, be- 
cause in the movement of our ordinary life we do not much 
see them. Some day we stand in their presence, we look 
up into their eyes ; they speak ; we hear them ; we catch 
their inspiration ; we kneel down before them and ask 
them for their benediction, and the faith in the love of 
money, of pleasure and of power, which had been the 
great, driving, cardinal belief in our life sinks almost out 
of sight, and for the moment at least we believe in the 


13 

reality of those high and exalted virtues, there is 
nothing else so real. 

So long, however, as the capacity for belief in 
those realities had been lying in us unexercised and 
latent we could not possibly come into the conscious- 
ness of those realities, although none the less real 
for that. In like manner this material age can not 
possibly come into the consciousness of a great king- 
dom of God about it, so long as that spiritual capacity, 
by which alone it can apprehend the realities of that 
kingdom of God, is lying buried, and smothered be- 
neath the superincumbent stuff of the study of sense 
phenomena and the engrossment of sense pursuits. 
And yet the spiritual universe is there ! And the 
spiritual faculty is here — in the heart of this genera- 
tion ! And this world to-day — to-night — is rushing on 
upon its path of material enthusiasms, full of dissatis- 
faction, — full of unrest, of overwork and worry, — 
because its best and divinest endowments have not been 
called out into exercise in their appropriate sphere ; like 
a man with some divine genius-gift for music or 
painting or other noble art, — which has not yet been 
called out. He does not know that he has it. He does 
not know what it is that he is wanting ; he only knows 
that he is constantly wanting something very much, 
which he never gets ; and so he goes on more busily 
than ever with his stone-breaking and his book-keeping, 
and his shoe-cobbling and his hammering, and yet the 
thing he wants does not come ; — until some day he 
chances to stand before the magnificent picture, or he 
chances to listen to the magnificent strains of the music 
of a master ; then the divine genius-gift in him discovers 


14 


itself to his apprehension, by contact with its proper 
element, and he rests in his appropriate sphere. 

In some such way as this, by a high spiritual life, the 
Church must restore to this generation the consciousness 
of its soul, — must make that consciousness a large, 
active, throbbing factor of civilization, — like railroads 
and telegraphs ; must redeem it from its engrossing, and 
debasing materialism, by bringing it so into contact with 
the reverberated music and the reflected beauty of a 
spiritual universe, that its spiritual faculty may become 
more fully developed, and that it may find rest in its 
appropriate sphere. 

It were a great mistake to suppose that the scepticism 
of to-day is actuated by hostility to religion ; in some 
cases it may be, but not in the case of those who are 
most sincere, influential and thoughtful. The coarse 
and rowdy infidelity of two or three generations ago is 
an anachronism to-day. It is out of date, and to no 
persons is it more insufferably offensive than to the best 
representatives of our modern agnostic school. The 
scepticism of our time is not a devil’s laugh. It is not 
a fiendish shout ; it is a most heart-broken cry, — like 
that of the Magdalen’s on the resurrection morning, — 
44 they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where 
they have laid him.” 44 I am not ashamed,” says one of 
this school, 44 to confess that with this virtual negation 
of God the universe to me has lost its soul of loveliuess. 
and when at times I think, as think at times I must, of 
the appalling contrast between the hallowed glory of 
that creed which once was mine and the lonely mystery 
of existence as now I feel it, at such times I shall ever 


15 


find it impossible to avoid the sharpest pang of which 
my nature is susceptible. ” That does not sound like 
an enemy’s voice, like the voice of one who hates relig- 
ion ; whence then comes this scepticism — this apparent 
inability of men to believe in what they so much desire 
to believe in — the reality of a supernatural and a 
spiritual universe around them 1 Partly at least because 
they are so much consciously in contact with a natural 
or material life, and so little consciously in contact with 
life that is impetused and motived by a faith in the 
realities of a supernatural world, in a kingdom of 
Heaven and God. And this generation, instead of lift- 
ing up its arm to strike religion, is rather stretching out 
dumb hands in prayer to the Christian Church, and 
saying, u Oh ! show us the Father. Do not simply 
point to him far away; do not merely reason about 
him, because we can reason too, we have reasoned in 
logic and philosophy, and we have brought in the 
verdict of c suspended judgment’, but oh ! show us — 
show us the Father and it sufficeth us!” That is the 
duty set before us, — just that, — nothing lower than 
that. We have nothing to fear; but we have great 
duties to perform. 


IV. 

Where shall the Church get her faith in the super- 
natural, her belief in a spiritual universe. 44 Laying 
aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily be- 
set us, let us run with patience the race that is set be- 
for us, looking unto Jesus.” The Christian Church 


16 


does not evolve her faith in the supernatural out of her 
own consciousness. She does not spin out of herself 
the encompassing meshes of a Kingdom of God about 
her. She does not say, “ go to, I will believe in God, 
in a death-surviving soul and in a Kingdom of Heaven,” 
and then exercise herself so assiduously in such directions 
that those tentative beliefs come at last to be actual 
verities to her consciousness ; — like a person who has 
dreamed a beautiful dream and then tries to live for days 
and months as though that dream were true until at last 
he comes to regard it as an actual occurrence, oh, no, 
not in that way ; but there afar off, upon the back- 
ground of the great historical picture of the Christian 
civilization, is the bright and ever-brightening reflection 
of the -splendors and realities of a spiritual world 
brought down and into this world through the medium 
of a personal Life. There it is. How it came there ? 
Who put it there ? How exhaustively and exactly to 
define it ? These are interesting and legitimate, but in- 
cidental questions. There it is. There is no doubt 
about that. The miraculous phenomena associated with 
it do not prove it true. It proves them true. It makes 
them presumptively probable, to begin with. It carries 
them along and supports them by its own inherent con- 
sistency with them. It verifies itself by itself. Its 
evidence, as Coleridge says, is in its existence ; it needs 
no proof to commend it ; for there it is, and that is 
enough. The spiritual world has been revealed, verified 
to the consciousness of the Church, through the medium 
of a Life. It is not a dream, nor a hope, nor a specula- 
tion. There it is, — irradiating a glory that cannot be 


17 


accounted for upon any other hypothesis except that it is 
the glory of a God. From that Life the Church receives 
her faith in the supernatural ; to that Life she must 
come and come again and continue to come ; for the 
strengthening of her faith, and as she is quickened more 
and more by its influence she becomes the body, the flesh, 
the blood, of that Life, by which it communicates its 
quickening influence to all the generations, awakening 
the slumbering spiritual faculties of men, redeeming 
them from an engrossing materialism, and performing 
forever the great office of saving the world’s soul. 

V. 

But there are some other and lesser sanctions; the 
quickening influence of the personal reflections of 
that greater Life, — “ the glorious company of the 
apostles, the goodly fellowship of the prophets, the no- 
ble army of martyrs, the Holy Church of God through- 
out all the world,” the Church at large has her cata- 
logue of saints ; and so has every fractional part and 
parish of that Church. 

And we have ours, my brethren. And as we stand 
here to-night on the verge of the celebration of our 
fiftieth anniversary, there comes to us — so readily to 
some of us — the memory of those whose characters 
have been purified and whose labors have been quick- 
ened by that personal faith in that personal Jesus and 
in the reality of that spiritual Kingdom which he illus- 
trated, and at the head of which he stands. We re- 
member to-night the burning enthusiasm of a John A. 


3 


18 


Clarke ; we remember to-niglit the unselfish and 
wise counsels, the self-denying labors of a Bishop Hen- 
shaw, and the pure hearts and lives of those to whom 
they and others ministered. Some of them have been 
gone these many years. Some of them have more re- 
cently departed, aye ! even this very week one has gone 
who looked forward with pleasant anticipations to this 
jubilee service, whose calm, serene face, whose hoary 
head in the ways of righteousness, I miss as I look 
around in the congregation to-night. And as we think 
of them the Kingdom of God seems to he very near to 
us. It seems almost to touch us. We seem to be 
standing in its very midst. “ Seeing we are encom- 
passed about with so great a cloud of witnesses ” let 
us understand our time, and the great responsibilities 
that it devolves upon us ; let us address ourselves to 
our duty and laying aside every weight and the sin that 
doth so easily beset us ; let us run with patience the 
race that is set before us in this generation, looking 
unto Jesus. 




First Hector or Grace Church. 


Was the 


He took charge of the parish in May, 1830. and si rrenderkd 














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THE LORD’S SUPPER, 


A SERMON PREACHED AT 


THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, GRACE CHURCH, 


Providence, It. I., Friday Evening, May 16th , 1879. 


BY THE KEY. SAMUEL FULLER, D. D. 



THE LOED’S SUPPEfi. 




Revelations i. : 5, 6 — Unto Him that lovecl ns, and washed us from our 
sins in His own blood; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. 


In the summer of the year 1830, Sunday, July 4, I 
administered, as the first Rector of Grace Church, Prov- 
idence, its first communion. The partakers were only 
twenty-four persons.* What multiplied and immortal 
fruits has the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper since 
borne in this parish ! A single cluster has grown to be 
a vintage. “ The little one has become a thousand !” 

At the close of my brief Rectorship, my last text was 
the words I have just repeated. Thus I resume to-day 
at the place where I ceased to speak as a minister of the 
Diocese of Rhode Island, more than forty-eight years 
ago. 

The ascription of St. John to our loving, atoning, and 
sanctifying Saviour introduces my subject for the present 
semi-centennial commemoration : 


* This Communion was my first administration of the Eucharist Only a month pre- 
vious (June 6), Bishop Griswold had, in St. John’s Church, ordained me Priest. The Rec- 
tor, Rev. Dr. Crocker, and Rev. C. H. Alden of Bristol, united with him in the laying on of 
hands. 


22 


THE NEW TESTAMENT WORDS RESPECTING THE LORD’S 
SUPPER. 

This subject is always new. Never fresher than now, 
in the minds and hearts of Christ’s people. 

The words of the New Testament respecting the 
Lord’s Supper are before its institution, at its institution, 
and after its institution. 

I. Our Lord’s words before the institution of His 
Supper, occur in His discourse in the synagogue at 
Capernaum : 

“ I am the bread of life. The bread is my flesh. 
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink 
His blood, ye have no life in you. It is the spirit that 
quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing ; the w T ords that 
I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” 
John vi., 35, 53, 63. 

Christ’s words in this passage are often misunderstood 
and perverted. This misunderstanding and perversion, 
and the consequent introduction and promulgation of 
error, arise from either ignorance or neglect of this im- 
perative law of interpretation. 

NEW TESTAMENT GREEK USAGE. 

This sovereign law will be my constant guide, while I 
attempt to explain the statements of our Lord and His 
Apostle, St. Paul, respecting the Sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper. 

TEACHING NOT A SACRAMENT. 

Is our Lord, in the expressions I have just repeated 
from the Gospel of St. John, speaking of the Sacra- 
ment of His body and blood ? 


23 


Not less than thirteen words and phrases, which 
the Evangelist St. Matthew uses, when describing the 
institution of the Lord’s Supper, are entirely wanting in 
His discourse at Capernaum. These striking omissions 
prove that our Lord is not, in Chapter vi. of St. John’s 
Gospel, speaking of His supper as an institution, but is 
speaking only of certain great truths preparatory to the 
sacrament He afterwards ordained, just before His cru- 
cifixion. His words are not in themselves signs and 
sacraments. 

I repeat a portion of these declarations of our Lord : 
kt I am the bread of life. The bread is my flesh. Ex- 
cept ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His 
blood, ye have no life in you.” 

PERSONALITY, NOT PERSONIFICATION. 

But at this point we are met by this assertion: Christ 
is not here speaking in His own person, but he is speak- 
ing by personification. He personifies Wisdom. He 
is merely repeating this declaration of Wisdom person- 
ified in the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, “ They 
that eat me, and they that drink me.” (Ecclus. xxvi., 
2L) 

This theory of personification is a chimera. 

1. When we hear our Lord say, “ I am the bread of 
life,” we are to penetrate deeper than the English ver- 
sion of His words. We must look into the original 
Greek. 

(a.) In the Greek he says, “I myself am the bread 
of life.” 

A stronger and more conclusive expression of per- 


24 


sonality does not exist. If when our Lord says, 44 I 
myself am the bread of life,” He does not declare, 44 1 
am personally the bread of life,” then when he says, 
44 I myself am the resurrection and the life,” He does 
not declare, 44 1 am personally the resurrection and the 
life.” The Greek expression, 44 1 myself am,” is the 
same in both instances, and in the same sense. Thus 
the original Greek completely destroys the assumptions 
of certain interpreters who maintain that in His dis- 
course recorded in the sixth chapter of St. John’s Gos- 
pel, our Lord is not speaking personally, but by per- 
sonification. 

( b ). New Testament usage also refutes the writers, 
who would insert in the passage before us, personifica- 
tion, in place of personality. The refutation is in these 
words of our Lord, 44 Whoso eateth my flesh, and 
drinketh my blood, eateth me.” (John vi., 54, 57.) 

44 My flesh and blood,” and 44 Me,” are here identical. 
If, therefore, 41 Me” means Wisdom, then 44 My flesh 
and blood ” means Wisdom. But neither 44 flesh,” nor 
44 flesh and blood,” ever in the Bible denote either wis- 
dom or knowledge. 

This fact utterly annihilates the theory of personifi- 
cation. The opposite conclusion is inevitable. Whoso 
eateth Christ, must eat and drink Him in his person, 
and not in a figure. 

FLESH, AND FLESH AND BLOOD. 

2. Now, we ask, what does our Lord, in the words 
we have just heard, mean by 44 flesh T and what does 
He mean by 44 flesh and blood T 


25 


(#•) By “ flesli,” he does not mean dead “flesh.” In 
the New Testament, the word “flesh,” in the singular, 
occurs one hundred and thirty-four times, and yet not 
in one place does “ flesh ” mean dead flesh.* 

(b.) Since our Lord by “ flesh ” does not mean dead 
flesh, what living flesh does he intend'? He answers 
this question. 

( era .) When our Lord says, “ No flesh should be 
saved ” (Mark xiii., 20), we perceive that by “ flesh,” He 
means human being. “ No human being should be^ 
saved.” 

( bb .) When our Lord says to Simon Peter, “ Flesh 
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,” (Matthew 
xvi., 17,) our Lord by “flesh and blood” means man. 
“ Man hath not revealed it unto thee.” 

Thus our Lord defines His own terms, “ flesh,” and 
“flesh and blood”; designating by His expressions, 
“ My flesh,” and “ My flesh and blood,” his human 
nature. 

(c.) By His words, “ Except ye eat the flesh of the 
Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in 
you,” our Lord announces this great and fundamental 
truth of His Incarnation : My human nature confers 
life ; both the resurrection-life of the body, and the life 
of holiness in the soul. 

THE FLESH AXD THE SPIRIT. 

4. We next encounter a declaration of our Lord, 

* In Revelation xviii., 19, the only instance, flesh (in the plural) means dead flesh. 

4 


26 


which has, in all periods of the Church, greatly per- 
plexed Biblical expositors. 

“ It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profitetli 
nothing.” (John vi., 63.) 

In this sentence, I will first examine the second part, 
namely, “ The flesh profitetli nothing.” 

“The flesh” here means “ My flesh.” This is our 
Lord’s own decision, as I will now show. 

In a conversation with His disciples, He says, “ My 
Lather.” Philip says, “ Show us the Father.” Our 
Lord answers, “ He that hath seen Me hath seen the 
Father.” (John xiv., 7, 8, 9.) In this passage, “ The 
Father,” is, beyond all question, the same as “ My 
Father.” 

In our Lord’s discourse, recorded in the sixth chap- 
ter of St. John, there is exactly the same equivalence of 
expressions. Our Lord says, “ My flesh” (v. 51). The 
Jews in reply say, “ The flesh ” (v. 52). In His an- 
swer our Lord says, “ The flesh profitetli nothing.” 
Guided by our Lord’s words with Philip, we cannot be 
mistaken when we maintain that “ The flesh,” in the 
phrase, “ The flesh profitetli nothing,” is also, beyond all 
question, the same as “ My flesh.” 

We will now examine this declaration of our Lord, 
“ It is the Spirit that quickeneth.” 

What “Spirit” does our Lord here intend? There 
are four possible answers to this question. “ Spirit ” 
may denote either ( a ) any human spirit, or ( b ) Christ’s 
human spirit, or (c) His Divine Spirit, or (< d ) the Holy 
Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. 

(a.) The word “ Spirit” cannot here denote any hu- 


27 


man spirit, as no human spirit can “ quicken,” that is, 
give spiritual life, (ft.) Spirit here cannot denote 
Christ’s human spirit. We have just proved that “The 
flesh,” here contrasted with “ The Spirit,” is the same 
as “ My flesh.” But Christ’s flesh is Christ’s entire hu- 
manity, which, according to St. Paul’s definition of a 
man, consists of “ spirit, soul and body.” (I. Thes., v., 
23.) The human spirit of Christ cannot, therefore, be 
contrasted with the “ flesh,” because His human spirit 
is included in His flesh, and is a part of His flesh, (c.) 
“ The Spirit ” cannot here denote Christ’s Divine Spirit. 
When our Lord calls a Person of the Trinity “ the 
Spirit,” He in every instance means the Holy Spirit. 

Of this fact we are certain, when we hear our Lord’s 
own words, “ Born of the Spirit.” (John iii. , 6, 8.) 
“ God giveth not the Spirit by measure ” (v. 34.) 
“ This spake He of the Spirit, for the Holy Ghost was 
not yet given ” (vii., 39). 

These are the only places, save the text we are now 
examining, (“It is the Spirit that quickeneth,”) where 
our Lord uses, as a name of Deity, the phrase “ the 
Spirit.” The Evangelists and Apostles also invariably 
designate by the term, “ the Spirit,” the Holy Ghost, 
and not either the Father, or the Son 

The usage of the New Testament thus decides, be- 
yond all doubt, that when our Lord says, “The Spirit 
quickeneth,” He cannot refer to His own Divine Spirit. 

(d.) We are thus driven to this position: By “ the 
Spirit,” the Holy Spirit is intended by our Lord, when 
He says, “ The spirit quickeneth.” 

(c.) This explanation of the term, “ the Spirit,” is 


28 


confirmed by another fact, 61 He that quickeneth,” that 
is, He that giveth spiritual life, is a name, which, in the 
sense of Giver of spiritual life, is never, in the New 
Testament, applied to our Lord. Whenever He is said 
to 44 quicken,” the quickening is solely to bodily life. 
(John v., 21. I. Cor. xv., 22, 45.) 


METAPHYSICAL THEOLOGY. 

44 My flesh profiteth nothing,” as a quickener. This 
affirmation of our Lord forbids the formation of the 
metaphysical theology, which insists that the human- 
ity of our Lord is, in itself, life-giving. In support 
of this assertion, this theology appeals to the power 
that went out of Him, when He healed 44 a certain 
woman,” (Mark v., 30, Luke viii. , 46,) and 44 multitudes ” 
of others (vi., 19). But when we hear St. Peter say, 
44 God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost 
and with power, who went about doing good and heal- 
ing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was 
with Him,” (Acts x., 38,) we perceive that this power 
was not itself inherent in Christ’s human body, but was 
in Him as the gift and endowment of the Holy Ghost. 
Human dogmas cannot abrogate our Lord's own asser- 
tion, 44 My flesh profiteth nothing,” as a quickener. His 
human nature does not of itself confer life. His 44 flesh 
and blood,” His human nature, must, before it becomes 
life-giving, be itself 44 quickened by the Spirit,” who is 
none other than the Holy Ghost. 


29 


THE ADMINISTRATOR IN THE LORD’S SUPPER. 

“ It is the spirit that quickeneth, My flesh profiteth 
nothing.” These words of our Lord decide another 
great question, Who is the administrator in the Lord’s 
Supper ? 

The administrator is the Holy Spirit. The gospel is 
“ the administration of the Spirit.” So St. Paul affirms. 
(II. Cor. iii., 8.) The Holy Spirit is the only admin- 
istrator in baptism. 44 By one Spirit are we* all baptized 
into one body.” (I. Cor. xii., 13.) 

Since the Holy Spirit is, without limitation, the ad- 
ministrator of the gospel, since He is the sole adminis- 
trator of the sacrament of baptism, since also our Lord 
declares, 4 * The Holy Spirit quickeneth, My flesh profit- 
eth nothing,” this truth is most firmly established, the 
Holy Spirit is likewise the sole administrator in the 
sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. 

PRESENCE OF NATURE, AND PRESENCE OF OFFICE. 

Christ is indeed both God and man ; and yet, Christ 
did not baptize Himself. The Holy Spirit baptized the 
man Jesus. This fact in our Lord’s life exhibits a dis- 
tinction in the Trinity between presence of nature, and 
presence of office. 

The same distinction does our Lord exhibit in this 
affirmation, which is applicable to His Supper. 44 The 
Holy Spirit quickeneth, My flesh profiteth nothing.” 
The bread and wine represent merely Christ’s 4 flesh,” 
His human nature. In the Lord’s Supper, the Holy 
Spirit is the administrator. The Deity of Christ is no 


30 


more in His Supper, than it was in His own baptism. 
His Deity is no more in His Supper, than it now is in 
the sacrament of baptism. In neither sacrament is He 
officially present. In neither sacrament does He de- 
mand of us adoration of a non-entity, His official 
presence. 


THINGS, NOT WORDS. 

I pass to the last expression I select from our Lord’s 
discourse at Capernaum, 44 The words that I speak unto 
you, they are spirit, and they are life.” 

In this sentence, two equivocal words require explan- 
ation. 

( a ). 4k Speak,” here means, to speak of, to treat of, 
and not merely to utter words.* 

(5). The Greek term here translated 44 words,” is 
elsewhere more correctly rendered 44 things.” (Luke ii., 
19.) Not bare words is our Lord uttering in John, 
chapter vi., verse 63, but of things is He discoursing. 
The things He speaks of are 44 the flesh,” His human 
nature, and His 44 flesh quickened by the Holy Spirit.” 

These 44 things,” He assures us, 44 are spirit,” are 
spirit-power, and 44 are life,” are life-power. Power is 
the peculiar characteristic of spirit and of life. So St. 
Paul teaches, when he says, 44 Spirit of power.” (II. 
Tim. i., 7.) 44 Power of life.” (Heb vii. , 16.) The 

human nature of our Lord, quickened by the Holy 
Spirit, is spirit-power, is life-power. 44 My flesh will I 
give for the life of the world.” (John vi., 51.) 44 Christ 

.crucified is the power of God.” (I. Cor, i., 23, 24.) 


Spake of Mm. (John vii., 13.) 


31 


II. 

We are next to examine our Lord’s words at the time 
He instituted the sacrament of His body and blood. 

Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave to 
the disciples, and said, take, eat ; this is my body which 
is broken for you : This do in remembrance of me. 
And be took the cup and gave thanks, and gave to 
them, saying, drink all ye of it ; for this is my blood of 
the new covenant, which is shed for the many, for the 
remission of sins.” (Matt, xxvi., 26 — 28; I. Cor. xi., 
24.) 

1. 44 Jesus took bread, and blessed and brake, and 

gave to the disciples, and said, take, eat.” 

our lord’s blessing. 

Our Lord blessed. What was the nature and effect 
of His blessing? 

(a). We must not fail to observe that St. Matthew 
does not say, our Lord blessed the bread. On the con- 
trary, when this Evangelist speaks of the wine, he says, 
44 Jesus took the cup, and gave thanks.” Our Lord’s 
blessing and thanksgiving in His supper were, then, the 
same thing. St. Matthew’s explanation of our Lord’s 
act of blessing is the very explanation St. Luke gives. 
44 He took bread and gave thanks,” (Luke xxii., 19,) and 
also St. Paul, 44 The Lord Jesus took bread, and when 
He had given thanks, He brake.” (I. Cor. xi., 24.) 
No New Testament writer says that our Lord blessed the 
bread. 


32 


We can now see the nature of Christ’s blessing, when 
He instituted the sacrament of His body and blood. 
He blessed God, and not the bread, and gave God 
thanks. 

(. b ). Of the effect of Christ’s blessing and thanksgiv- 
ing, not a word is uttered in the New Testament. 
Where the Scriptures are absolutely silent, no man is at 
liberty to dogmatize, least of all to construct a system of 
sacramental theology. The bread was not blessed in 
the supper. No change whatever, at the time, did the 
bread experience, except to become representative. In 
New Testament Greek, the word 44 bless ” never means 
consecrate, much less, make holy. 

FLESH AND BLOOD, AND BODY AND BLOOD. 

2. At Capernaum our Lord calls Himself 44 flesh and 
blood.” In Jerusalem, at the institution of His Supper, 
He calls Himself 4k body and blood.” How do the 
names differ ] 44 Flesh and blood ” is our Lord’s human 

nature alive. 44 Body and blood” is His human nature 
slain as an atoning sacrifice for sin, and therefore dead. 
Under the old covenant each beast, whose blood was 
brought into the sanctuary for sin, was 44 body and 
blood.” (Heb. xiii., 11.) In the new covenant Jesus, 
44 the one sacrifice for sins ” (Heb. x., 12), takes the place 
of the sacrificed beasts” (v. 13). Because He is this 
substituted sacrifice, He calls Himself k4 body and blood,” 
when he thus says, This is my body which is broken for 
you. This is my blood, which is shed for the many, for 
the remission of sins. 44 Christ’s body and blood,” is 
44 Christ crucified ” and dead. 


33 


THE PRESENT TENSE. 

3. “ Is broken, is shed.” Does the present tense 
decide that the breaking and the shedding were at that 
very instant] Our Lord answers this question in the 
negative. Foretelling His crucifixion “two days” be- 
fore the event, He says, “ The son of man is delivered ” 
(Matt, xxvi., 2.) He uses the present tense for the cer- 
tain future. The breaking and the shedding our Lord 
decides did not occur at the instant He said, “ Is 
broken, is shed,” but two days after ! 

REPRESENTATION. 

4. When our Lord affirms of the bread, “ This is 
my body,” and of the wine, “ This is my blood,” does 
the word is denote representation] or describe identity ] 
We refer the decision of this controverted question to 
our Lord Himself. 

In His parable of the tares, He utters these declara- 
tions: “ He that soweth the good seed is the Son of 
man ; The field is the world ; The enemy that sowed 
the tares is the devil ; The harvest is the end of the 
world.” (Matt, xiii., 37 — 39.) 

To these declarations our Lord immediately adds this 
decisive explanation, which immoveably attaches to 
the sower of the good seed, to the field, to the enemy 
sowing tares, and to the harvest, the character of repre- 
sentation. 

“ As the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so 
shall it be at the end of the world.” (Verse 40.) 


5 


34 


The particles “ as ” and 44 so,” here used by our Lord, 
designate representation. According, then, to His own 
language and decision, The sower of the good seed rep- 
resents the Son of man ; The field represents the world ; 
The enemy sowing tares represents the devil ; The har- 
vest represents the end of the world. Since, then, The 
sower of the good seed, The field, The enemy sowing 
tares, and The harvest, is each, in its character, repre- 
sentative, the word 44 is ” becomes, in each sentence, also 
representative, and can bear no other meaning than 
represents. 

Thus, beyond all contradiction, this is an established 
fact : It is our Lord’s own usage to employ the word 
“ is ” to designate representation. 

Does our Lord use the word 44 is ” in the same sense, 
when He says, in instituting His Supper, 44 This is my 
body, This is my blood ” ? 

The following facts answer most decidedly, our Lord 
does thus use the word. 

(a.) A word, when defined by New Testament usage, 
carries its definition into every other place where the 
word occurs, unless the context refuses to accept the 
definition. 

In Matt, xxvi., 26 — 28, the context does not refuse 
to accept represents as the meaning of 44 is.” 44 This is 
my body.” This represents my body. 44 This is my 
blood.” This represents my blood. 

THE LORDS SUPPER A PARABLE. 

(b.) Instead of refusal of the context to accept rep- 
resents as the meaning of 44 is,” in Matt, xxvi., 26 — 28, 


35 


the parabolic character of our Lord’s words, when insti- 
tuting His Supper, admit no other sense than rep- 
resents. 

But you may ask, What reasons are there for regard- 
ing our Lord’s words in the institution of His Supper, a 
parable ? 

(aa.) St. Paul calls the sacrifice of Isaac a parable. 
(Heb. xi., 19.) The sacrifice of Isaac is a parable, be- 
cause it represents the sacrifice of Christ. The bread 
and the wine also represent the sacrifice of Christ. In 
this representation they resemble the sacrifice of Isaac, 
and become like it, a parable. 

Most parables consist solely of words. But in the 
parable of Isaac, there are actions, as well as words. 
The institution of the 44 sacrament of our redemption,” 
is a similar parable. Our Lord acts, as well as speaks. 
The transaction becomes an acted parable. His actions 
are representative. The bread He takes in His hands 
represents Himself, as 44 the bread of life,” that is, as 
the author of bodily and spiritual life. The bread 
broken represents His body 44 wounded ” on the cross 
44 for our transgressions,” and 44 bruised for our iniqui- 
ties.” (Isa. liii ,5.) The wine poured out represents 
His 44 blood shed for the remission of our sins.” 

( bb .) While the Holy Supper is thus a peculiar par- 
able, because both spoken and acted, the Supper is also 
an example. When our Lord had washed His disciples’ 
feet, He said, 44 1 have given you an example that ye 
should do as I have done.” (John xiii., 15.) This 
washing and these words followed immediately after the 
institution of the Supper. One representative act fol- 


36 


lows another and explains it. Thus following the Sup- 
per, these words of our Lord, when washing the disci- 
ples’ feet, explain His language when in the Supper He 
says, 44 This do.” That is, 44 Ho as I have done.” After 
my example, “ take bread, give thanks, break and eat.” 
After my example, 44 take the cup, give thanks, and 
drink all ye. This do, in remembrance of me.” 

(cc.) The explanations I have now given of the par- 
abolic nature of the representations in the Lord’s Sup- 
per, and also of the meaning of His direction, 44 This 
do,” are fully justified by this declaration of St. Paul, 
44 As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye 
do show the Lord’s death till He come.” (I. Cor. xi., 
26.) The Greek word here translated 44 show,” is else- 
where in the New Testament rendered 44 preach.” We 
may, therefore, use 44 preach,” instead of 44 show,” in St. 
Paul’s declaration. Thus : 44 As often as ye eat this 
bread, and drink this cup, ye do preach the Lord’s 
death till He come.” But eating and drinking is not 
preaching by words. Eating and drinking is 44 preach- 
ing” by actions. Eating and drinking is 44 preaching” 
by example, by representation. The Lord’s Supper is 
thus made by St. Paul an acted parable, a parabolic 
representation. Our Lord’s actions in His Supper form 
44 an example,” a representation, which He leaves His 
disciples to follow in all ages, till He shall come again 
to judge the world. 

The Scriptures I have just explained form this con- 
clusive demonstration : As our Lord, in His spoken 
parable of the tares, fastens unalterably upon the word 
44 is ” the meaning of represents, so in His acted parable 


37 


of the bread and wine, He stamps indellibly upon the 
word “ is ” precisely the same signification of represents. 

The bread and wine represent merely and exclusively 
the human nature of our Lord. This is His own teach- 
ing. This was the teaching of the early church. This 
is the teaching the church is bound to proclaim both 
now and ever. 

THE FALSE DOGMA. 

Not until the fifth century was there a different dogma. 
In this century, Gelasius I., Bishop of Borne, formally 
declared that the bread and wine represent both natures 
of our Lord, His Humanity, and His Deity. 

These are the words of Gelasius : 

Panis et vinmn , in actione mysteriorum , represent ant 
Christum integrum verumque. The bread and wine, in 
the action of the mysteries, represent Christ entire and 
real.* 

This historical fact is most important. The fact dis- 
closes the spring-head of the deductive theology, which 
connects our Lord’s Deity with the material elements in 
His Supper. By this assumed connection, the inferen- 
tial dogmatism, issuing from the Papal throne, creates 
the flowing stream of human error, which under the 
different names of Primitive Liturgy, Transubstantia- 
tion, Consubstantiation, Objective Presence, Eucharistic 
Adoration, and Worship of the Host, still poisons, dis- 
tracts, rends, and afflicts the Church. 


*Biblia ratrum Maxima, VIII., 703. Liber de Duabus Naturis Christi. 
Rev. Henry Card. Lord’s Supper, p. 43. 


38 


When we find the beginning of this dogmatic evil, 
we also find the exact place where we are to begin to 
avoid and oppose the huge system of monstrous assump- 
tions.* 


our lord’s presence in his supper. 

We may now consider the manner of our Lord’s pres- 
ence in His Supper. 

At the institution of the Lord’s Supper, His disciples 
must have partaken of the objects represented by the 
bread and wine. These objects He calls “ His broken 
body and His shed blood.” But at this first partaking 
of the bread and wine, His body was not broken, and 
His blood was not shed. The disciples, therefore, could 
have received only in one way objects existing merely 
in God’s purpose. They could receive only the efficacy 
of Christ’s broken body, and of His shed blood. This 
efficacy was no new power. It existed from the fall of 
Adam. Christ is “ the Lamb slain from the foundation 
of the world.” (Rev. xiii., 8.) His sacrifice, thus 
coeval with human transgression, was efficacious in all 
subsequent time for the pardon of sin. 


* “ The worship due to Christ, as present, ‘ under the form of bread and wine,’ were not 
part of our Lord’s original appointment (as the 28th Article observes), but were deductions 
from the truths revealed respecting this sacrament, into which the Church was guided by 
the Holy Ghost.” — Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist , by Itobert-Isaac Wilberforce , Arch- 
deacon of the East Riding. P. 264. London , 1853. 

The reader will not fail to most carefully mark this language. 

1. This admission, “ the worsliip due to Christ, as present, ‘ under the form of bread 
and wine,’ were not part of our Lord’s original appointment.” 

2. This assertion, “ But were deductions from the truths revealed respecting this sac- 
rament.” 

3. This essence of Romanism, “ Into which deductions the Church was guided by the 
Holy Ghost.” 

4. This baseless assumption, “ The Church was guided by the Holy Ghost into deduc- 
tions from truths revealed.” 


39 


That the disciples did actually receive this efficacy, is 
proved by this language of His, 44 My blood is shed for 
the remission of sins.” This efficacy the disciples must 
have received when they ate the representative bread, 
and drank the representative wine, or there was no real 
representation. 

The first Lord’s Supper is the model of every repeti- 
tion of His Supper. As, at the first Supper, the efficacy 
of Christ’s broken body and shed blood was received, so 
in every subsequent Supper, has the efficacy of His 
broken body and shed blood been received, by commu- 
nicants possessing the requisite relations and disposi- 
tions. St. Paul says expressly, “ Christ crucified is the 
power of God,” and power is efficacy. (I. Cor , i., 23, 
24.) But what is 44 Christ crucified”'? Christ crucified 
is 44 His body and blood.” Since, then, according to St. 
Paul, 44 Christ crucified ” and 44 Christ’s body and blood ” 
are the same, His body and blood is the power of God, 
is the efficacy of God. Consequently the power, the 
efficacy of Christ’s body and blood is the object, both 
represented and received, in the Lord’s Supper. 

No one, I presume, finds difficulty in admitting, that 
44 Christ crucified ” is 44 the power of God.” No one 
should find difficulty in admitting, that 44 Christ’s body 
and blood,” (which is the same as 44 Christ crucified,”) 
is 44 the power of God.” 

How, moreover, Christ’s body and blood is the power 
of God, St. Paul, in this same chapter of 1. Corinthians, 
distinctly tells us: 44 Christ Jesus becomes from God to 
us (who are believers, v. 21), wisdom and righteousness, 
and sanctification and redemption.” (I. Cor. i., 30.) 


40 


Christ’s wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and re- 
demption are forms and manifestations of God’s power. 
Our reception of these blessings depends upon two in- 
strumentalities, the operation of God, and our faith. 
So St. Paul teaches in his words just repeated: “ From 
God to us who are believers Christ Jesus becomes wis- 
dom, and righteousness, sanctification and redemption.” 

Upon the very same instrumentalities, depends our 
reception, in His Supper, of the power of Christ crucified. 
“ The Spirit quickeneth.” “ Every one who believeth 
on the Son may have everlasting life.” (John vi., 47.) 
Apart from the quickening Spirit, Christ’s body and 
blood are not the power of God. Apart from our faith, 
there is no reception of this power. 

The body and blood of Christ, which are identical 
with His crucified human nature, do not form in the 
Supper a divine and invisible substance, to be adored 
and worshipped. The human nature of Christ is notin 
the Supper, except by representation, but His life-giv- 
ing, atoning and holy humanity is really in the hearts of 
believing recipients, by the power of the Holy Ghost. 

III. 

BLESSING AND COMMUNION. 

The complement of our Lord’s words, to which we 
have been listening, is this language of His Apostle St. 
Paul: “ The cup of blessing, which we bless, is it not 
the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread 
which we break, is it not the communion of the body of 


41 


Christ”? (I. Cor., xi., 16.) This language requires 
careful explanation. 

(a.) The two questions are strong affirmations. 

( b .) 44 The cup of blessing,” is the cup representing 

blessing. 

(c.) 44 The cup which we bless,” by invoking God’s 

blessing. 

In Bible Greek, as I have already said, the word 
44 bless ” has, in no instance, the sense of consecrate, 
much less, make holy. 

( d .) 44 The Communion.” Not the communication, 

but the partaking. The Greek word here translated 
44 communion,” never, in the New Testament, means 
communication. The elements of bread and wine do 
not communicate the body and blood of Christ. Par- 
taking is the sense the context gives the word 44 com- 
munion.” 44 Partakers of the Lord’s table.” (I. Cor. 
x., 21.) By the appointment of our Lord, and by the 
action of the Holy Spirit, we partake of 44 the power of 
Christ crucified,” the efficacy of His body and blood. 
Most faithful to the Greek is our Church, when explain- 
ing 44 communion ” by 44 partaking,” in her 28th Article 
of Religion. 44 Communion ” is passive reception. 

LAYMEN NOT ADMINISTRATORS. 

(e.) The 44 bread we break.” We break. We, 
Apostles, break. The Apostles’ breaking of bread is, in 
the Book of the Acts, mentioned by St. Luke, in his 
description of the original constitution of the Church of 
Christ. 44 The baptized continued steadfastly in the 
6 


42 


Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of 
bread, and in prayers.” (Acts ii., 42.) The law of 
Greek construction demands this translation of the pas- 
sage : They continued steadfastly in the doctrine of the 
Apostles, and in their fellowship, and in their breaking 
of bread, and in their prayers.* This expression, “ We 
break,” used by St. Paul, cannot warrant lay administra- 
tion of the eucharist. Not an instance is there in the 
New Testament, where the laity 44 break the bread” in 
the Lord’s Supper. 

DISCERNING THE LORD’S BODY. 

Another sacramental expression of St. Paul must not 
escape our notice. 

(a.) 44 Not discerning the Lord’s body.” (I Cor. 

xi , 29.) In order to understand this language, we must 
not forget that 44 The Lord’s body ” is The Lord’s cruci- 
fied and dead body. 

( b .) Next we must not fail to find the exact mean- 
ing of the word 44 discerning.” 

To do this, we must interpret St. Paul by himself. 
Nowhere does he use the verb here translated 44 discern” 
in the sense of discerning by faith. On the contrary, 
in I. Cor. iv., 7, he uses this verb in this sense, “Maketh 
to differ.” But Make to differ, is the same as Make a 
difference between, that is, To distinguish. 

Thus St. Paul gives us the true sense of 44 Discerning 
the Lord’s body.” 44 Discerning the Lord’s body,” is 
Distinguishing His sacrificed body from a human body 


♦Compare Heb. vi., 10, I. Thes. i., 3, II. Tim. iii., 10, 11. 


43 


dead, but not offered as a sacrifice for sin. “ Not dis- 
cerning the Lord’s body” is, then, Not to see the differ- 
ence between His body broken on the cross, and His 
blood shed for the remission of our sins, and the body 
of a Christian martyr ; for instance : The body of the 
Apostle James, beheaded by the sword of Herod. 
(Acts xii., 1 .) 

St. Paul’s own definition of £ ‘ Not discerning the 
Lord’s body,” explains other sacramental language of 
this Apostle. 


UNWORTHY COMMUNING. 

(a.) Eating and drinking the Lord’s Supper c; un- 
worthily ” is, To eat and drink without the belief, that 
Christ’s death was an antoning sacrifice. (Verse 29.) 

(b.) Such an unworthy partaker is u guilty of the 
body and blood of the Lord,” (verse 27), because by his 
unbelief he ranks himself with the crucifiers of Christ. 
“ He that is not with me, is against me.” (Matt, xii., 
30.) 

NATURE OF THE LORD’S SUPPER. 

What, we may now ask, is the Lord’s Supper? 

1. The Lord’s Supper is a Memorial of His love and 
sacrifice. 

2. The Lord’s Supper is a Representation of His 
life, and of His death upon the cross, for the remission 
of our sins. 

3. The Lord’s Supper is a Means of Grace, both 
outward and inward. Outward, in the bread and wine. 
Inward, in the presence and power of the Holy Ghost. 


44 


This is the temple of truth respecting the Lord’s Sup- 
per we attempt to build out of the foundation rocks and 
precious stones contained in the New Testament. 

No other temple than this may we construct. “ Other 
foundation can no man lay than that is laid.” (I. Cor. 
iii., 11.) The principles of interpretation in this dis- 
course are unalterable and imperishable. The Greek 
laws of exegesis are as stable and enduring as a the 
everlasting hills.” (Gen. xlix., 26.) “ My words shall 

not pass away.” (Matt, xxiv., 35.) 

Of priceless value is the actual and habitual recep- 
tion of the Supper of the Lord. To believing commu- 
nicants the Holy Spirit conveys, at the time, all the 
blessings the sacrament represents. 

“ We believe in the communion of saints.” United 
to Christ, we are united to His entire Church, both in 
this world, and in Paradise. This hope cheers and 
comforts us, as to-day we review the affecting history of 
this parish, and recall the many loved ones, once here 
with us, but now gone before. We join all saints, the 
living and the departed, in their unceasing thanks and 
praise, “ Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from 
our sins in His own blood ; to Him be glory and do- 
minion forever and ever.” Glory forever to Christ for 
His love ! Glory forever to Christ for His blood- 
washing ! The dominion of Christ in our hearts, and 
over our lives — be this dominion forever and forever ! 

Amen. 




























































































Ip \i IJau. ¥I|a$. It, ®lai|k, 

Entered c pon the Rectorship of Grace Church. March 1st, 185 

SHORTLY AFTER HIS CONSECR ATION TO THK EPISCOPATE. 

Bishop Clark, resigned the Rectorship 
in September, 1886. 
















































































































































































































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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE 


DELIVERED AT 


THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, GRACE CHURCH 


Providence, R. I., Saturday Evening, May 1 7th, 1879. 


BY THE RIGHT REY. THOMAS M. CLARK, D. D., LL. D. 








HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 


Fifty years ago the town of Providence contained 
about 16,800 inhabitants, and was organized under a 
city charter three years later in 1832. There were 
thirteen religious societies in existence, four of the Bap- 
tist denomination, four Congregational, one Friends’ 
Meeting, one Methodist, one Universalist, one Roman 
Catholic, and one Episcopal Church. On the 2nd of 
May, 1829, a number of gentlemen assembled for the 
purpose of organizing a Protestant Episcopal Church on 
the west side of the river. “ The Rev. Nathan B. 
Crocker, Rector of St. John’s Church, presided, and a 
Committee was appointed to take such action as might 
be necessary in order to carry the purpose contemplated 
into effect. At an adjourned meeting, this Committee 
reported that a suitable building could be secured, at a 
rent of $250 per annum, and it was determined to begin 
the services of the new parish there. This edifice, 
erected in 1795 for the use of a new Congregational 
Society, is still standing in Richmond street, and has 
been occupied by several infant parishes. At present it 
is devoted to a very different use. 


48 


Measures were then taken to secure subscriptions for 
the support of public worship, and three gentlemen were 
designated “ to supply the pulpit with men of talents 
and true piety.” In his parochial report presented to 
the Diocesan Convention on the 9th of June, 1829, the 
Rector of St.John’s Church says: “We should do 
violence to our feelings, and incur the charge of indif- 
ference to measures which are supposed to promise 
efficient aid to the cause of piety and Episcopacy, were 
we not to say that sundry individuals of this Church 
have organized an Episcopal Society on the west side of 
the river. Their delegates are now here, and claim to 
be admitted as its legal representatives in this Conven- 
tion. We trust that it will be your pleasure to recog- 
nize and honor their claim, when they shall have shown 
by' their articles of association, or otherwise, that the 
Constitution of the Episcopal Church in this State is 
acceded to by the Society they represent.” It was a 
graceful thing on the part of the late Dr. Crocker, thus 
to introduce the deputies of this new parish to the Con- 
vention, for it is not always the case that the Mother 
Church in our towns and cities looks with much favor 
upon the setting up of her children in establishments of 
their own, and very probably some of the parishioners 
of old St. John’s regarded the formation of a new parish 
as an act of superfluous zeal. 

On the 26th of May, Grace Church was formally or- 
ganized, a charter adopted, and a Vestry chosen. The 
charter was soon after granted by the Legislature, limit- 
ing the amount of property to be held by the Corpo- 
ration to the sum of $75,000. On the 9tli of June, an 


49 


organist was appointed, at a salary of $60 per annum, 
a stipend which, in our day, would hardly suffice to pro- 
cure the services of a first-class performer. An attempt 
was made to secure Bishop Griswold as the first Rector 
of the parish, which, for some reason, failed. 

The names of all who were enlisted in these primary 
movements, with a single exception, have ceased to ap- 
pear on the roll of the living. Identified, as many of 
them were, with the best interests of the State, as well 
as the Church, their memory will live for many genera- 
tions, and so long as these walls stand, the names of 
those who founded this parish will be revered and hal- 
lowed here. 

On the 17th of May, 18*29, just fifty years ago to-day, 
Bishop Griswold officiated at the first public service 
held under the auspices of the new parish. During the 
ensuing summer, the Church was supplied by a variety 
of clergymen, and in October the Rev. William Richmond 
was invited to the Rectorship, which offer he declined. 
The Rev. Samuel Fuller, Jr., was then called, on a sal- 
ary of $600, with the assurance that “ the same shall be 
increased when the means of the Society may warrant 
it.” The fact that, in the following December the sal- 
ary was considerably increased, is a testimony to the 
success and faithfulness of his early ministry. It is a 
source of peculiar gratification that the first Rector of 
the Church should be present with us to-day, and that 
his voice should be heard, clear and strong, on the occa- 
sion of our semi-centennial jubilee. The hand of time 
has rested gently upon him through this long half cen- 
tury, and he comes to us, after a life of active and unre- 

7 


50 


mitted toil, in full vigor of both mind and body, to con- 
tribute his part to the solemn services of this interesting 
occasion. May the period of his usefulness be still pro- 
tracted for many a year. It may here be noted that the 
Rev. Joseph H. Price, who officiated for some time in 
Grace Church, during the interim between the election 
of Dr. Fuller to the Rectorship, and the date when he 
entered upon bis duties here, and who afterwards had a 
long and honorable ministry in the city of New York, is 
also still living, and although he has resigned the Church 
in which he served so long, has never ceased to take a 
living interest in whatever pertains to the interests of 
the Kingdom of Christ. In May, 1831, the Rev. Mr. 
Fuller resigned his Rectorship, and another unsuccess- 
ful attempt was made to secure the services of Bishop 
Griswold. The records show that the Rev. George F. 
Haskins followed Mr. Fuller, and remained in charge of 
the Church for about one year. Soon after this he 
entered the Roman Catholic Church, and was for a long 
time in charge of an ecclesiastical institution in South 
Boston. 

In January, 1832, a movement was made to secure a 
permanent house of worship. Attention was directed 
to the old Providence Theatre, erected in 1795, at the 
corner of Westminster and Mathewson streets, and 
arrangements were soon made for its purchase. The 
building was then entirely transformed in its appear- 
ance, and converted into a convenient and seemly Gothic 
edifice, with a spacious basement room for the use of 
the Sunday School, and for other general services. On 
the 15th of November, 1832, the church was conse- 










• . 












































- 

' 




































































































































































































































































































Was cAi.rr.D to ihk Rkc ronsini* ok Oijaci; Ciiujh n, in .Ti'lv. 18 H 2 . 

ami iiKsi(r\K.i> in May. is:;. - ). 






















































































































































































r 






































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♦ 








































































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51 


crated by Bishop Griswold. The entire cost of the 
building, including land, was about $17,000, and instead 
of the parish finding itself encumbered by a debt, the 
pews were at once sold for $21,000, $4,000 more than 
the cost of the edifice. 

From this date the day of large things may be said to 
commence in Grace Church. The Rev. John A. Clark 
now entered upon his Rectorship, and although he re- 
mained in charge but three years, there were during this 
period not less than 220 baptisms, and 218 persons were 
confirmed. The number of communicants increased 
from 42 to 261. The church was soon crowded with 
worshippers, and the pulse of religious life beat strong 
and hard. The intense enthusiasm of the minister com- 
municated itself to the people of his charge, and was 
felt as a living power throughout the whole community. 
The harvest so richly and rapidly reaped, came for the 
most part from material gathered in from regions out. 
side the Episcopal Church, and from this period we date 
the large increase in the strength of our Communion 
in the city and the Diocese. It was a heavy blow to 
this Parish when Dr. Clark left for St. Andrew’s, Phil- 
adelphia, to succeed the eloquent Bedell, and take up 
the great work which he had left to be carried on by 
his successor. The failing health of Dr. Clark obliged 
him to lay aside his public work in February, 1843, and 
during the following winter he died. It was my lot to 
succeed him in St. Andrew’s Church, and also to com- 
mit his body to the dust, under the shadow of the 
church he loved and served so well. 

After his departure from Providence, the Rev. Alex- 


52 


ander H. Vinton was called to the Rectorship of this 
Church, and declined. The invitation being renewed, 
it was at length accepted, and Mr. Vinton entered on 
his duties as Rector in April, 1836. He came here 
after a short term of service in old St. Paul’s Church, 
Portland, Maine, where, by a somewhat singular coin- 
cidence, I was sent to succeed him, as I afterwards fol- 
lowed the Rev. Hr. Clark, Rector of St. Andrew’s, 
Philadelphia. Hr. Vinton’s ministry in Grace Church 
continued for nearly six years, during which time the 
parish became thoroughly consolidated and strengthened 
in all its parts. As he is still with us, I cannot say of 
him and his work all that I certainly would be glad to 
say if he were not alive to hear it. The time has not 
come to pronounce his eulogy, and God grant that it 
may be long deferred. 

After the resignation of Hr. Vinton, the Rev. Edward 
W. Peet, who is still living in the city of New York, 
was in charge of the Church until Easter, 1843. 

The Eastern Hiocese, which at one time comprised 
all the New England States, with the exception of Con- 
necticut, having been dissolved at the death of Bishop 
Griswold, Rhode Island now became an independent 
Hiocese, and elected as its first Bishop the Rev. Hr. 
John Prentiss Kewley Henshaw, of Baltimore. The 
same gentleman was also invited to the Rectorship of 
this Church, and was instituted August 10th, 1843, on 
the day before his Consecration as Bishop. After an 
active and laborious service of nine years, he rested from 
his labors on the 20th of July, 1852. The church in 
which we are now assembled, is his monument. There 










Was consecrated to the Episcopate, 

August 11th, 18.43. 

He became immediately thereafter the Rector of Grace Church, 

AND CONTINUED IN THAT OFFICE UNTIL HIS DECEASE, 

July 20th, 1852. 

. 










* 





. 














































. 










53 


are few who know how hard he toiled, and what self- 
denials and trials he endured, in order to advance its 
erection, and more especially after it was built, to res- 
cue it from being alienated from our Communion. The 
cost of the structure, as it then stood, was $63,000. It 
was only by labors in season and out of season, in place 
and out of place, that he saved this church from being 
sold under the hammer of the auctioneer. This was 
but one of the good works that he did during his Rec- 
torship ; of what he accomplished on the broader field 
of the Diocese, I have spoken in another place. Al- 
though called to do double work, and having much to 
occupy him in the Diocese, no parishioner had occasion 
to complain of his neglect, and no parish duty was ever 
slighted. 

After Bishop Henshaw’s decease, the Rev. Henry 
Burroughs, now Rector of Christ Church, Boston, was 
in charge of the Church until the 1st of March, 1855, 
when I assumed the duties of the place. At this time, 
there had been in all 650 baptisms, 209 marriages, 272 
burials, and 499 persons confirmed 

My Rectorship continued until September 1, 1866, 
when it was resigned, as provision had now been made 
for the independent support of the Episcopate, and the 
increasing demands of the Diocese were enough to oc- 
cupy all my time. During this period, the church was 
completed by the erection of the stone spire, and a 
chime of bells was secured by general subscription, and 
placed in the tower. A spacious chapel was also 
erected in the rear of the church, with all the arrange- 
ments requisite for carrying on the Sunday School work 


54 


of the parish. For several years, the only building 
available for this purpose was a small and unattractive 
structure, at a little distance from the church ; and the 
rapid growth of all branches of the School after our re- 
moval into the new chapel, amply justified the expense 
incurred in this movement. All these improvements 
were completed without imposing any debt upon the 
Parish. 

Among those who were employed as Assistant Min- 
isters during this period, I may mention the Rev. John 
Franklin Spalding, who is now the honored Bishop of 
Colorado ; while there were others, who, in their sphere, 
have done honor to the Master whom they serve After 
my resignation of the Rectorship, on the 1st of Septem- 
ber, 1866, the Rev. D. O. Kellogg, Jr., was settled 
here. He left in the summer of 1870, and the Rev. C. 
G. Currie became his successor, and he resigned in 
July, 1872. During the Ministry of both these gentle- 
men, the prosperity of the Church continued without 
abatement. 

On the 15th of September, 1872, the Rev. D. H. 
Greer entered upon the duties of the Rectorship, and 
has continued with us up to the present time. During 
his ministry, this Church has reached its highest point 
of advancement. The size of the congregation is lim- 
ited only by the accommodations of the buildiug, the 
number of communicants is larger than it ever was 
before, and the amount of money contributed far in ad- 
vance of anything previously known. A beautiful Rec- 
tory has recently been built, and, so far as matters 
external are concerned, the only thing remaining to be 










































55 


done, is, to restore the interior of this church to a con- 
dition and tone of color more in accordance with its 
grave and sombre architecture, than that by which it is 
now disfigured. 

In the first parochial report made to the Convention 
by the Rev. Mr. Fuller, the statistics are as follows : 
44 Baptisms, 2 ; communicants (supposed) about 30 ; 
Sunday scholars, 50; Sunday School library, 60 vol- 
umes.” The last report states that the carefully re- 
vised list indicates that there are now 640 actual com- 
municants ; and it also informs us that there are 33 
Sunday School teachers, and 450 scholars. The success 
of this School has been in a great degree owing to the 
excellent qualifications and earnest zeal of those who 
serve as teachers, and they will unite with me in further 
saying, that all which they have done has been most 
efficiently supplemented and strengthened by the faith- 
ful energy, the untiring courteousness, and indefatigable 
earnestness of Mr. S. C. Kingsley, who entered upon 
his duties as Superintendent in the year 1852, and be- 
came connected with the school as a teacher in 1832, 
only three years after the Church was organized. How 
many Rectorships he has survived ! The blessings of 
multitudes of children have fallen upon his kind and 
patient head ! May the day be far removed, when he 
must lay down his staff, to walk no more with the 
teachers and scholars, as their guide, counsellor, and 
friend. 

The history of Grace Church during these past fifty 
years, does not offer anything in the way of startling 
incident ; all has gone on from the beginning very 


56 


evenly and quietly. It has been a steady and orderly 
growth, first the blade, then the ear, and after that the 
full corn in the ear. There have been no contentions 
among the people, and no quarrels between the Rector 
and the congregation. There have been some days that 
were darker than others, but the light soon came, and 
the clouds were scattered. A more united people could 
hardly be found. The words spoken from the pulpit 
have always been kindly received, and the voice of 
truculent criticism has rarely, if ever, been heard here. 
The Church has always been at peace with all its 
neighbors, Episcopal and non-Episcopal, and when, some 
years ago, we were unable for a while to hold services 
here, because of a fire, which was happily arrested be- 
fore much damage was done, our next door friends of 
the Unitarian Congregational Society kindly put their 
house of worship at our disposal, and, having at the time 
no minister of their own, contented themselves with 
such services as we could give them. 

Great changes have occurred in the general aspect of 
affairs in our Communion here in Providence since the 
day when Grace Church was founded. In 1839, St. 
Stephen’s Church was established on the east side of 
the river, and after abiding for twenty four years in the 
house where their first services were held, the congre- 
gation erected a new and beautiful edifice on George 
street. The Rev. Dr. Waterman, for so many years the 
revered and loved Rector, was baptized in Grace Church, 
and may be regarded as a child of this parish. In 1844, 
what is now known as All Saints’ Memorial Church, was 
started, under another name, in a remote part of the 


57 


city, and after one or two successive steps of advance- 
ment, planted itself on a conspicuous street, and built 
there a church, which is a model of beauty and strength. 
In 1856, the Church of the Messiah came into being; 
then followed in 1860, the Church of the Redeemer ; in 
1863, the Church of the Saviour; in 1865, Christ 
Church; in 1869, St. James’s Church; and in 1871, 
St. Gabriel’s Church. In addition to these ten organized 
parishes, regular services are held in the hall occupied 
by the Church of the Epiphany, and in St. Thomas’s 
Chapel, Eagle Park. 

The change in the Diocese is not less striking. In 
1829, there w 7 ere only live parish clergymen here, and 
one other engaged in teaching ; and live Churches, con- 
taining in all about 563 communicants. We have now 
forty-seven clergy, forty-four parishes, and nearly 6,000 
communicants. In our Sunday Schools, we number 
730 teachers, and 6,331 scholars. All that is said of 
the contributions of the Diocese in the Journal of 1829, 
is found in the statement of the Rhode Island Episcopal 
Missionary Society, which reports that $52.50 have been 
received from book shares, of which $1.50 has been 
paid to the General Convention, and $48 carried to the 
new account. The total of contributions in 1878, as 
given in our last Convention Journal, is $139,570. It 
is very possible, that, half a century ago, an amount of 
money found its way, through various channels, into 
the treasury of the Church proportionally equal to what 
is now given ; but there are no statistics, either in our 
Diocesan Journal, or in the Journal of the General 
Convention, that throw any light upon the matter. In 
8 


58 


the report on the state of the Church made by Rhode 
Island to the General Convention which met in 1829, 
no statistics of any sort are given, except that two new 
parishes have been organized during the preceding three 
years. 

The growth of the Episcopal Church at large, since 
Grace Church was started, may properly receive a mo- 
ment’s attention. In 1829, there were nine Bishops in 
attendance at the General Convention, and seventeen 
Dioceses were represented. We have now sixty-three 
Bishops, 3,204 Clergy, 3,002 Parishes, forty-eight or- 
ganized Dioceses, and twelve Missionary Districts. 

It is just about half a century ago that our Church 
in this country began to put on her strength and en- 
large her borders. The remarkable report presented 
to the General Convention in 1829, by the Rev. Alonzo 
Potter, afterwards Bishop of Pennsylvania, indicates 
how the Church was then beginning cautiously to feel 
her way in the direction of that work for the discharge 
of which Christ originally commissioned His Apostles. 
It is full of that wise caution that always characterized 
the words and acts of this remarkable man ; but, con- 
sidering what had then been done in the way of mis- 
sions, by the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, 
it is somewhat strange to come upon a passage like 
this in the report : “ On looking over the past efforts 

of the Society, the Committee are forcibly impressed 
with the belief that these efforts have been spread over 
too large a surface ; that they have been divided be- 
tween too many and various objects.” All that had been 
done in the department of foreign missions, and all that 


59 


the Society proposed to do, is summed up in the follow- 
ing sentences : “ It has already two stations among the 

Aborigines of our own country. There is one Mis- 
sionary on the shores of the Mediterranean ; and it is 
understood that the earliest opportunity will be taken 
to dispatch another to Liberia.” 

Last year the whole amount of money distributed by 
our General Domestic and Foreign Boards is thus re- 
ported : Domestic, $129,825; Foreign, $139,971; 
Indians, $34,555 ; Freedmen, $14,300. 

The infusion of missionary and evangelic life, which, 
forty or fifty years ago, began to operate within the 
Church, and the general awakening that it kindled, 
drew the attention of many to onr Communion, who 
had been accustomed to regard the Episcopal Church 
with indifference, if not with hostility. In this part of 
the country, more especially, there were several things 
which combined to excite an interest in this Church, 
which had never been felt before. 

The stability of our Creed attracted many, who were 
becoming alarmed by the tendencies towards doctrinal 
disintegration, that were manifesting themselves in the 
religious bodies with which they had been connected. 
They wanted a liberal Christianity, but they also felt the 
need of a Christianity resting upon some fixed historical 
basis, and which recognized in some form the element 
of Divinity in the Being from whom their religion de- 
rived its name. They wanted some assurance as to 
what their children would be taught, after they were 
gone ; and although there might be certain things be- 
tween the two covers of our Prayer Book which they 


60 


neither loved or believed, they were Avilling to take it 
as a whole, rather than be left in the open sea, without 
rudder, or chart, or pilot. This feeling brought many 
into the fold, who have since become Hebrews of the 
Hebrews, and vaulted into very high places. 

Other classes of Christians were attracted to this 
Church by the freedom of her creeds, and because they 
could be admitted to her communion without assenting 
to any elaborate and fine* spun formularies of doctrine, 
any philosophical theory of inspiration, or depravity, or 
atonement, or decrees, or eternal punishment. Some 
were also repelled from their old connection by the in- 
troduction of altogether new conditions of communion — 
anti-masonic, anti-slavery, anti-narcotics, total absti- 
nence, and the like. They were not ready to surrender 
the rights of individual conscience, in respect of conduct, 
or of private judgment, in respect of the minutiae of 
doctrine, and so they came to us for liberty. 

Very many were attracted to the Episcopal Church 
by its liturgical worship. Since that time, other de- 
nominations of Christians have adopted to some extent 
the peculiar features of our service, and have thus in a 
degree lifted their form of worship out of the barrenness 
and dulness which once characterized it. Fifty years 
ago, “ the short prayer and the long prayer,” two or 
three hymns rendered in a somewhat dreary way, and 
perhaps a chapter of Scripture in the forenoon, consti- 
tuted their entire form of worship. The oral confes- 
sion, the litany, the responses, the versicles, the chants, 
the sacred calendar, the system of periodic fast and fes- 
tival, peculiar to the Episcopal Church, combined to 


61 


draw more persons into our fold than anything else. 
There were a few students of ecclesiastical history who 
entered this Church, and more especially the Ministry 
of the Church, because they became convinced of its 
Apostolic origin, and perhaps of the exclusive claims of 
Episcopacy. 

For a time all went prosperously ; many of the best 
men in the community cast in their lot with us, par- 
ishes multiplied, new Dioceses sprang into being, con- 
tributions rapidly increased, missions were established 
at home and abroad, and it seemed as though the day 
might come, when the great mass of American citizens 
would rally around our standard. It w 7 as indeed a rare 
opportunity, such as we are not likely to see again very 
soon, and if we had had the grace and the wisdom to 
take due advantage of the circumstances surrounding 
us, we might have attained a great triumph. 

But, the wind which once blew so auspiciously, has, 
in a measure, died aw r ay, and at the present moment 
this Church is making comparatively little head- way in 
the land at large. By a process of pulverization we 
have greatly multiplied the number of Dioceses, we 
have divided the regiment into a larger list of com- 
panies, and put a General in command over each, and 
multiplied our chief officers to such an extent that, on 
the average, we have left but one Deacon and a fraction 
to be ordained by each Bishop during the year. In 
1878, there was a decrease in the number of persons 
admitted to both Deacons’ and Priests’ orders, and the 
number confirmed was 2,466 less than in the previous 
year. Although the Church is nearly eight times 


62 


stronger, as indicated by the list of communicants, than 
it was forty or fifty years ago, the number of candidates 
for Holy Orders is but a little more than double what 
it was then, notwithstanding all that has of late been 
done to provide gratuitous support for our candidates. 

It comes within the province of this address rather to 
state facts, than to try to account for them. It would 
require more time than is now at my command even to 
sketch in the most cursory way the various influences 
now at work, both within and without the Church, that 
tend to obstruct its progress. A candid and thorough 
statement of the subject would probably give little sat- 
isfaction to any section of the Church — high, low, broad, 
or ritualistic. 

Returning to that which is more in accord with the 
spirit of the present occasion, I would call your atten- 
tion very briefly to some of the changes which have 
come over the general aspect of the Church, since the 
date when this parish was organized. 

The change in externals is very marked. The houses 
of worship that were built fifty years ago differed very 
much in their style and furniture from those which are 
erected now. In most of the older churches of this 
Diocese, and elsewhere, the more ancient English ar- 
rangement of the chancel was discarded, and what is 
known as “ the three-decker,” loomed high in the air 
against the wall, with a small communion-table of wood 
at the base, a large oblong desk rising above and behind 
it, and the whole surmounted by a lofty pulpit, to Avhich 
the minister sometimes found wearisome access through 
a mysterious passage in the rear. I have seen a clergy- 


63 


man, officiating in a strange church, on returning to the 
chancel, after the prayers were over, completely non- 
plussed as to the mode in which he was to get access 
to the pulpit, towering above him, and a gentleman of 
the congregation was obliged to leave his pew and pilot 
him to the place of entrance. If any one had appeared 
in the pulpit wearing a surplice, the presumption would 
have been that he was too poor to buy a silk gown. I 
have officiated in churches where no ecclesiastical vest- 
ments were tolerated, except on the occasion of the 
Holy Communion, when the minister was allowed to 
appear in a black gown. Even the singing of the chants 
and glorias in a certain quarter was regarded as a badge 
of Popery. And yet we were all very scrupulous as to 
the omission of a word in the prescribed service, which 
is more than can be said to-day. The observance of the 
Holy Hays, with the exception of Good Friday and 
Christmas, was far from being universal ; even Ash 
Wednesday and Lent, Epiphany and Ascension Hay, in 
many parishes being passed without notice. It is a very 
noticeable and suggestive fact, that certain usages, such 
as supplementary prayers and conference meetings, — 
public services protracted from day to day and night to 
night, with exciting appeal and hortatory exhortation, 
followed by fervent, personal appeal to unconverted 
sinners, — which used to be regarded as peculiar to ex- 
treme low-churchmen, have now, under new names and 
with some modifications, passed into the hands of a 
school who look upon old-fashioned high-churchmen as 
low down in the ecclesiastical ladder. In all quarters, 
symbols and badges, and usages are tolerated, which 


64 


would have given much offence fifty years ago. We 
were once accustomed to pride ourselves upon the ab- 
solute uniformity of our worship, at all times and in all 
places. This boast can no longer be made, and that, 
not through the fault of those who have been tradition- 
ally regarded as loose Churchmen. That, upon the 
whole, we have gained something, in the judicious ab- 
breviation of our services on special occasions, in the 
musical enrichment of our worship, in making the sanc- 
tuary and all its appointments more beautiful and at- 
tractive, cannot, I think, be denied. That some of our 
churches have gone to extremes in the matter of adorn- 
ment and in novel ways of doing things, is also a fact, 
which most of us will not question. 

A change may also be noted, in the style of our 
preaching during the last half century. We always 
feel this in repeating a sermon that was written forty or 
fifty years ago. In some respects this change may be 
for the better, and in other respects for the worse. The 
distinction between the ethical and the doctrinal dis- 
course is not as marked as it was. A wider range of 
topics is expected in the pulpit, more copious illustra- 
tions, greater condensation of thought, a profounder 
style of argument, less of vague exhortation, a keener 
discrimination in the handling of controverted topics, 
and a fairer and more courteous treatment of our adver- 
saries. But, while in former times there may have been 
an amount of dogmatism in the pulpit which would now 
be offensive, there is danger in our day of floating off 
into the region of dimness and uncertainty. Everything 
which the preacher could once assume as not to be 


65 


questioned, and therefore not needing to be argued, is 
now denied, and it may require an effort on the part of 
the preacher to keep the doubt which floats in the air 
from penetrating his own spirit. He may be tempted 
to evade all controverted points, and try to satisfy him- 
self and his congregation with lofty sentiments, and 
what are called “ soul-inspiring views of truth.” He 
may preach out of a cloud and be content, because that 
cloud seems to be made gorgeous and beautiful by the 
rays of the setting sun. But when the sun goes down 
altogether, as it sometimes does, how great is the dark- 
ness ! 

A great deal more is expected of the clergy now than 
was demanded in former times. Fifty years ago if the 
Rector held his two services on Sunday, gave a weekly 
lecture in the chapel, visited the families of his congre- 
gation at stated periods, looked after the sick, and dis- 
tributed the Communion alms, his work was done. 
Guilds and church reading-rooms, and cottage-lectures 
and parish societies of all descriptions, and raising 
money for innumerable missions and pastoral missionary 
work in out-lying places, and daily services in Lent, 
and perhaps on every other day of the year, — all this 
was once unknown. The repose that used to be asso- 
ciated with the clerical office, has ceased to exist. Men 
must be up and doing if they would keep their place. 
There is no more cloistered seclusion for the clergy. 
They must do their thinking as they can, on foot, or in 
the railway train, perhaps more than in the study. We 
may be carrying things a little too far in this direction. 

It would be impossible within the narrow limits ab 

9 


66 


lowed me to allude to all the mighty changes in the 
realms of thought, as well as in practical life, which the 
world has seen since the day when our fathers met to 
organize the Church whose semi-centennial we now 
celebrate. It is a great thing to haye lived in such an 
age as this. But it may be hard to keep the fire of 
divine truth and love burning clear and free, in an at- 
mosphere charged with so many exhalations that come 
from the earth, and are of the earth, earthy. All the 
influences with which we, as theologians, feel bound to 
contend, may not in the end prove to be hostile, and we 
must be careful not to oppose blindly that which may 
turn out to be for the furtherance of the truth. The 
strongest and subtlest argument on the side of absolute 
and utter unbelief that I have ever read, seems to me to 
leave the being of a God, with all which this involves, 
standing, if possible, on a more impregnable foundation 
than before. Hear how the instincts of humanity as- 
sert themselves in the words with which the writer 
closes his work : “I am not ashamed to confess that 
with this virtual negation of God the universe has lost 
its soul of loveliness ; and although from henceforth the 
precept to 4 work while it is day ’ will doubtless but gain 
an intensified force from the terribly intensified mean- 
ing of the words that 4 the night cometh when no man 
can work,’ yet when at times I think, as think at times 
I must, of the appaling contrast between the hallowed 
glory of that creed which once was mine, and the lonely 
mystery of existence as now I find it, — at such times I 
shall even feel it impossible to avoid the sharpest pang 
of which my nature is susceptible.” 


67 


It was to save men from this sense of utter desolation, 
to make them feel and know that there is a God in the 
world, to bring them home to God through Jesus Christ, 
to lighten the dreariness of their pilgrimage by the rev- 
elation of Him who carries their griefs, and opens to 
them the way of hope, that this Church was founded. 
How much has been done here to make men wiser and 
better and more Godlike, only the records of eternity 
can tell. 

To day we have stopped for an hour and looked back 
upon the road we have been travelling for the past fifty 
years. We have traced the history of this Church step 
by step from its humble beginning down to the present 
day. Six of the number who have filled its Rectorship 
still remain, five of whom take part in the services of 
this commemorative festival. Two only have passed 
away and rest from their labors. There are some 
present who remember the early years of the parish, 
and have heard the word of life at the lips of every pas- 
tor who has officiated here. Those who were young 
when they first entered the doors of the Church, begin 
to feel that they are getting old now. With them the 
day is far spent, and the night is at hand. They can 
recall many pleasant hours that have been passed here, 
hours when the Saviour came very near to them, and 
they were lifted heavenward. They look around to-day 
and see very few of those who once came up to worship 
with them. Fifty years hence when the centennial is 
kept, few of us will be here. Our account will have 
been closed and our place assigned us in another world. 
When the Master summons us to give an account of our 


68 

stewardship, shall we all be found ready ? Have we 
been faithful to our trust ? 

As we now pass on to enter upon a new half-century, 
the question naturally suggests itself, what is to be the 
destiny of this Church in the days to come? In 1929, 
will the walls be still standing in the same old spot, and 
will the incense of prayer and praise continue to ascend 
from this consecrated place ? It may be that the pres- 
sure of trade and the removal of the people to other 
regions of the city, will cause the transfer of Grace 
Church to some distant locality, and so the building in 
which we worship to-day pass away out of sight forever. 
But, however this may be, we doubt not that the Church 
will live and go on to prosper. The worship will con- 
tinue to be the same, the doctrine preached the same, 
the spirit of zeal and holiness, we trust, will be greatly 
increased. Those will rise up to take our places, who, 
we hope, will be far in advance of us, and do a better 
work than any of us have done. Our children will have 
grown old, and we shall sleep with our fathers, when 
the Centennial is kept ; but the Church will never die — 
its foundation standeth sure. 

“ Christ is made the sure foundation, 

Christ the head and corner-store, 

Chosen of the Lord, and precious, 

Binding all the Church in one, 

Holy Sion’s help forever, 

And her confidence alone.” 











AND IlKSIO N KT> IN JaNTAKY. )M2 




















































. 

* 























































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SERMON 


PREACHED BY THE 


REV. ALEXANDER H. VINTON, D.D. 


Sunday Morning , May 18th, 1879. 




SERMON. 


-o- 


Genesis xxii. : 14. — “ And Abraham called the name of that place 
Jeliovah-jireh, as it is said, to this day, ‘ In the mount of the Lord it shall 
be seen.’ ” 

These words are a part of the history of Abraham’s 
sacrifice of his son : a history made memorable through 
all time for the wonderful intervention of God and for 
his grand reward of faith and obedience. 

Just as Abraham was about to do the terrible deed 
of duty and plunge the knife of sacrifice into his son, 
God arrested the act and showed him another victim. 
This illustrious deliverance made Abraham say “Jeho- 
vah-jireh,” a phrase which grew into a proverb, and 
bore a universal meaning, “in the mount of the Lord it 
shall be seen.” 

It is a sort of poetical view of the subject, but it is 
somewhat striking how it ran into a course of fact, that 
the most peculiar manifestations of God have taken 
place on uplands, as if they were nearer to Heaven. 

The several phases of God’s character and the exhi- 
bition of his various attributes are associated historically 
with certain mountains. Mount Sinai with its awful 
glory, and its surroundings of savage wilderness shows 


72 


us God speaking in the law of His righteousness to a 
world of unwilling and uncongenial men. 

The Mount of the Beatitudes with its Divine sermon 
and Sermonizer shows us how our humanized God inter- 
preted His own law, and how every divine virtue could 
be incarnated in man. 

The Mount of Transfiguration lifts us right up into 
personal communion and eyesight with our Saviour 
Deity. 

From the hill of the Ascension, Mount Olivet as is 
supposed, we are taught to look out lovingly to our 
receding Lord, and longingly and hopingly for His 
return. 

From these several mountains, as we group them in 
our thoughts, God seems to come out into various mani- 
festations. Each one is a type of some religious 
thought. But in the centre of the group is another, in 
which the Divine attributes kiss each other, and God 
and man come into the embrace of life and salvation, 
Mount Calvary. This is the mount of mountains. All 
the rest get their light from it and shed back their 
beauty and glory towards it. 

Now these various exhibitions of God, suggesting the 
diverse relations we sustain to Him, might to persons of 
diverse temperaments and tastes be variously attractive. 

From our partial way of looking at things, or from 
any peculiarity of character, it might happen that one 
Christian would be drawn by one view and another by 
another, and so our religious consciousness and life might 
be very differently tinctured. I apprehend that this is 
in fact the case with us, and it accounts for those di- 


73 


versities of religious experience which sometimes seem 
almost contradictory and mutually hostile. 

For example, in the first place, one might be en- 
grossed and overpowered by thinking of the severe 
purity and righteousness of the Law of God. He dwells 
in Mount Sinai; the thunder tones fill his ear, the light- 
nings scathe his eyesight. That terrible “ thou shalt 
not,” overwhelms his conscience and makes him afraid 
of the violated law whose purity he yet adores. So 
that his religion becomes a religion of predominant 
fear, without any of the comforts of Divine communion 
and hope. He is the Christian of Mount Sinai. 

Conscience with him holds not only the reins but the 
whip besides, and plies her self-inflictions dreadfully. 
He is an unhappy believer, for a believer he still may 
be in every Christian verity. Though his spirit dwells 
in the rocky wilderness of Sinai he does not deny that 
there are other mountains where God may be seen. He 
believes in the Beatitude Hill, in Tabor and Olivet and 
Calvary, but he thinks he is not ripe and strong enough 
for these. We may pity him as we ought to do for this 
one-sidedness, but we ought not to blame him as if he 
were hugging a falsehood. I know that in these days, 
men are very apt to think slightingly of the Law and 
Sovereignty of God, to exalt man’s independency so as 
almost to make it appear that the coming under a total 
subordination to any power outside of himself, is a 
degrading of his essential dignity and that a religion 
with any fear in it is a falsity and a shame. 

It is plain that such an one has never ascended Mount 
Sinai. He has not stood up before God’s ineffable 
10 


74 


white purity, and the great shining glory of His right- 
eousness, before which archangels veil their faces, and 
so he has never felt the reverence quiver through his 
frame which trembled on Isaiah’s lips and brought him 
to his knees saying, 44 unclean, unclean.” In refusing 
and denouncing all dread in religion he forgets the 
admonition of Jesus, 44 I will forewarn you whom ye 
shall fear, fear him who after he hath killed, hath 
power to destry both soul and body in Hell, yea, I say 
unto you fear him.” 

Oh ! it is not unmanly to dread the displeasure of 
the glorious God who holds our destinies in His hand. 
It is no degradation of true dignity to fear the casting 
away in another life from Him and from all who are 
like Him. The man who thinks it is, should pass at 
least one thoughtful night on the top of Sinai. He 
may gain a new revelation there of God and of himself 
which may prove the dawn of salvation to him, if he is 
not a Christian ; and I think it will make his piety more 
stalwart if he is one, and will deepen his religious en- 
joyment, when he passes on from Sinai to the other 
mountains, where the Lord will be seen more beauti- 
fully. Let us now pass on to some of them. 

As some persons linger too long by a sort of perverse 
moral instinct among the terrible things of Sinai and 
write them all down against themselves, so there are 
others who are instinctively drawn to the Mount of the 
Beatitudes. Of a calm temper, of refined taste, of a 
pure moral sense, they are attracted lovingly to the liv- 
ing Jesus in whose loveliness every one of the beati- 
tudes was impersonated. The whole series of precepts 


in that wonderful sermon is eagerly siezed by their 
moral esthetic perceptions, as the crown and beauty of 
character. They admire them all as seen in the charac- 
ter of Jesus, and they admire Him with a surpassing 
admiration, they almost adore Him, at any rate they 
emulate his beautiful character, and try to reproduce it 
by self watchfulness and loving effort. And to an ex- 
tent they succeed, and we look upon them, and pay them 
the glad tribute of our moral admiration. Yet they are 
familiar with only that one mount of the Lord. 

With no strong passions, and with no profound moral 
analysis of themselves, they turn their backs on Mount 
Sinai. 

With no idea of Christ but as the living teacher and 
exemplar, they are almost equally strangers at Calvary. 
Their calm temperament would not much enjoy the vis- 
ion of transfiguration, where Peter in his dazed rapture 
desired to build tabernacles, and even the Ascension 
moulit inspires no longing hopes, for their future is to 
be built upon the beatitude of their present characters. 

They lose much from this partial reception of God’s 
ideas, and we ought to pray much for them that God 
would reveal himself to them in his fullness, on every 
mount where he is to be seen. 

Again we come to the Mount of Transfiguration, and 
this too is a type of personal religious character. On 
that height we see the transformed humanity of our 
Saviour glowing Avith unspeakable light and beauty. 
We know him to be our Saviour, the familiar Jesus of 
our daily intercourse, yet borrowing such a glory from 
Heaven that he seems like God standing there. God,. 


76 


yet our own Jesus, and so in delighted communion we 
long to stay there and build tabernacles. The world is 
a great way below us. Its businesses and cares seem 
impertinent, its pleasures worthless ; sensuous things, 
degrading. We live a sort of upper life. This seems 
very imaginary to some persons. It is imaginative, 
because imagination enters into every mental conscious* 
ness that does not come straight through the senses, but 
it is a real consciousness nevertheless. It is reached by 
the strong contemplation of divine truths and facts. It 
comes to those moods of meditation when the soul 
abstracts herself from her externals and enters up into 
the spiritual life, and sings as she goes, 

“Nearer, my God, to thee.” 

And sings when she rests, 

“ This willing soul would stay 
In such a frame as this, 

’ Til it is called to soar away 
To everlasting bliss.” 

Our most highly devotional hymns are inspired on 
the Mount of Transfiguration, when the soul lays hold 
on God, communes with him, or reposes placidly on his 
bosom, and God is both seen and felt. 

This state of feeling comes across us by snatches, 
sometimes in church with strains of psalmody, when 
they are pure and simple, or at the sacrament when the 
heart is fit for it. But sometimes this mood dominates 
the Christian’s whole life, and becomes a habit. He is 
actually tabernacled on the Mount of Transfiguration, 
It is a luxurious sort of piety thus ante-tasting Heaven, 
and of itself with nothing to balance it, it is unwhole- 


77 


some, and runs to feebleness like all other pleasures. 
God means that we should enjoy it only at intervals, 
getting divine recreation and strength from seeing Him. 
The disciples must not tabernacle on the mount with 
Christ and Moses and Elias. They must quit the glory 
and go down among men to cast out devils and preach 
the Gospel, and work and die for Christ. 

The way in which our Father fits us for this close 
communion, this felt partnership, is sometimes very 
strange. By bereavement, when he draws away from 
your bosom, young mother, the baby that nestles there, 
and you feel as if a part of your heart was amputated, 
and when he takes that manly son of yours, my friend, 
in whom you hoped to live over again a sort of double 
life of pride and love, or when he blasts your fortunes 
in a night, and your tall hopes lie crushed under the 
wheels of disaster, leaving you almost beggared, — by 
these, or some such way, God often brings his children 
nearer to him consciously than he could by any other 
method. 

You feel a hand bearing on you, and you seize it to 
toss it angrily off. But you look up and see that it is 
God’s hand and you dare not, and as you look you catch 
his eye all aglow with love for you and then you are 
ashamed, and mourn and melt and trust and love and 
lay your head on his bosom and say, 64 Father, not my 
will, but thine.” The sweetness of that feeling of one- 
ness is the rapture of the transfiguration. You feel 
nearer Heaven and you will come down from that height 
with a heavenlier mind and a divine vigor to do your 
Christian work until you die. 


78 


We reach now the Mount of the Ascension, the place 
of high hopes and triumph and never ceasing cheerful- 
ness. This mount stands right opposite to Mount Sinai. 
It is skirted by no rocky wilderness. It looks down on 
vineyards and olive gardens and a sunny spread of 
bloom, and the Old Jerusalem gleaming from her turrets 
the light of God, and it looks up and away to the better 
gardens of Paradise and the glory of the New Jerusa- 
lem made sure for our entrance, because Christ our 
forerunner hath already entered. This mount, there- 
fore, typifies the religion of hope. Some Christians 
have it like a wellspring, always bubbling and running 
over in fresh sweetness, making every thing about them 
cheery and charming. 

It is a religion which recommends itself to all who 
witness it, a beautiful voucher of the truth and power 
of Gospel grace. 

I once knew a Christian of this sort, in this town, a 
plain man, who went about his daily toil and tempta- 
tion with no more distrust of God’s fidelity in supply- 
ing a daily grace than he had of the trustworthiness of 
his wife in supplying his nightly supper. His life was 
a sacred song. He was struck down by an accident 
which his physician said would prove speedily fatal, 
and when a friend asked him whether he was ready to 
die at once he replied, 86 That matter was settled long 
ago, let us sing a hymn .together before we part.” 
This is the hope which is the anchor of the soul enter- 
ing within the veil with Jesus. It is the vital nerve of 
duty, the softener of trials, the foretaste of the sweet 
river that flows hard by the throne of God. 


79 


So we group the four Mounts of Sinai, of the Beati- 
tudes, of the Transfiguration, and of the Ascension, 
each one of them a type of some form of personal 
piety, but each, when standing alone, of a partial and 
inadequate piety. 

I said that in the centre of the group rises Mount 
Calvary, and its cross, radiating its own illumination to 
the rest, and giving them all their real meaning and 
value. Calvary, the solemn spot of the sacrifice of our 
Saviour God, slain for our sins, the archetype of whom 
Isaac was the type, but with a difference. Surrendered 
willingly by His Father to die, there was no withhold- 
ing of the sacrificial blow, no accepting of the will for 
the deed. His living heart was pierced. His living 
blood did flow, the blood that cleanseth from all sin, 
whose preciousness bought us off from doom. This is 
that preeminent Mount of the Lord, in which he will 
be seen in his wholeness. Mount Calvary reveals the 
whole Godhead, — righteousness, peace, truth and love 
in one display by God and man in one person. It is 
the central truth of the universe to be seized by the 
soul in one grand central act of faith, and all piety to be 
true and whole, intelligent and affectionate, pure and 
practical besides, should have the cross for its rational 
centre and the Crucified for its power of effective life. 
Well grounded in this, no matter what forms your piety 
takes it will not be heretical, nor fallacious. No matter 
whether your conscience draws you much to Sinai, or 
your ambition to be Christ-like leads you to the Beati- 
tude Mount, or your spiritual temperament to Hermon, 
and the Transfiguration, or your ardent feelings to the 


80 


top hopes of the Ascension, while your soul is still 
cabled by a living strong faith, it may drift with the 
breeze toward either development ; may rise or sink 
with the tide of your common or uncommon life. You 
will never swing beyond the safe deep water upon any 
rock or shoal of peril. 

And mark now the relations of these other mounts 
to Mount Calvary, so that it is everything to them and 
they are dangerous without it. Mount Sinai, with its 
terrors of conviction, can do the delicate conscience no 
harm so long as it points to the cross where sin is 
thoroughly atoned and the law propitiated. Nay, the 
law is then the very schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. 
We love the very conviction, when it makes us love the 
Saviour more, as the conviction is deeper the pardon is 
sweeter. So with the Beatitudes. To undertake them 
without the cross, to emulate the living Christ, without 
having felt the love of the dying Christ, is to reverse 
God’s plan of human holiness. We want the prime 
incentive of forgiven gratitude. We want the strength 
of His life infused into our own by faith. We want 
the spirit of Christ through the Holy Ghost who was 
sent by Christ, and sent because he died, before we can 
begin to be Christ-like after the pattern of the Beati- 
tudes. Till then that beautiful sermon on the mount 
is only a reprimand, “ Ye know not what spirit ye are 
of.” 

It is so with Mount Hermon, and the meditative rap- 
ture of divine communion. Remove it out of reach of 
Calvary and Christ and its voiceless joy is only a trans- 
cendental abstraction, a poet’s dream, or a heathen 


81 


fancy. But carry Christ in your heart up there, and 
his promises in your open hand, and you will realize 
delightedly, in your prayerful meditation, how he lays 
his heart side by side with yours, and manifests himself 
to you as he does not unto the world. 

And so is it again with Mount Olivet and its Ascension 
hopes. Without the crucified and risen Christ what 
can you best hereafter be to your thoughts beyond the 
guesses of Scipio’s dream, a twilight, “ may be” with a 
dark opposite horizon of may not be. With the light of 
Calvary how different. “ I go to prepare a place for 
you, and if I go I will come again and receive you to 
myself, that where 1 am there ye may be also.” “ Fear 
not, little flock, it is my Fathers good pleasure to give 
you the kingdom.” This hope may scale the Heavens, 
for on this Mount of the Lord he is surely seen. 

Thus, brethren, I have said how these several mounts 
are typical, illustrating different styles of personal re- 
ligion. May we not generalize the thought and say 
that they illustrate as well the different systems of 
Christian doctrine and school of religious thought, 
which, while all begin and come around to Calvary, yet 
love to alight and rest on different mountains where 
they think the Lord is best seen. 

Thus we might say that the system of Calvin, that 
great and holy thinker, a system which dissects human 
nature down to the minutest cords of its moral organ- 
ism, and even undertakes to analyze, with sharp logic, 
the government and mind of God, that Calvinism moves 
round and round Mount Sinai, so absorbed with its Sov- 
ereignty that half the time it turns its back on Cal- 


11 


82 


vary, and its religion declines into a gloomy conscien- 
tiousness. And we may say the same of that far infe- 
rior system, the opposite in all other respects of Cal- 
vinism, which makes Heaven to be the reward of pious 
deeds, and so prescribes penances, abstinences, confes- 
sions as the price of pardon. They both need the light 
of Calvary and one of them its scorching blaze. For 
while Calvinism needs the mellow brightness of Christ’s 
dying love to tone down its severity, Romanism needs a 
blaze that shall at once burn up its profane human addi- 
tions, and make it see that man cannot be saved by him- 
self, nor by a priest, but by the cross and the Crucified 
alone, through the simplest faith of the soul. 

The Beatitude Mount represents a school of religious 
thought and life familiar enough to you, for you have 
lived in its neighborhood all your days. In the person 
of its great typical leader, Channing, we see the best it 
can do for man. No life was ever purer, no temper 
gentler, no conscience truer, no nature in its wholeness 
more refined than his. His life was the excellence of 
humanity, and his whole religious consciousness was 
absorbed by the enthusiasm of humanity, and merged 
in it, getting no tinge from the other mounts of holi- 
ness. The awe of the great Sovereignty, the joy of 
personal supernal communion, the vivid hopes of the 
ascension height, did not modulate by a single touch of 
diviner emphasis the beauty of his own humanity, while 
Calvary with its interpretation of atonement was almost 
abhorrent to his thoughts. And Channing, though 
typical of his school, stood not alone, he has followers 


83 


almost as eminent as he in the graces that are engen- 
dered of the Sermon on the Mount. 

The Transfiguration Mount is the loved abiding place 
of the mystic school of theology, which sometimes 
came near forgetting Calvary and its faith in the glad 
absorption of its divine love. We must speak of it, 
though, tenderly and reverently. Its spirit has found a 
voice in too many of our hymns, and called out the sweet- 
est music of our souls in unison too often for us to depre- 
ciate the mystical tendency. And while we remember 
Bernard, and Tauler, and Fenelon, and Guion, who 
dwelt much on Mount Hermon and saw the Lord there, 
we may even wish that we were more of us as they 
were. 

Now lastly, let the Mount of Ascension represent the 
Wesleyans glorying in the cross, never forgetting its 
wounds, the blood and death, but exalting them all the 
more with a piety so full of hope that you hear nothing 
of the gloomy unpardonable sin and the fatal reproba- 
tion, but only the joy of those who welcome a coming 
Saviour with hosannas. 

Various as these schools are, they are not various 
religions but different types of the one Christianity 
crystallized into organisms. They show us how the 
essential unity of the faith can work out into various 
development. Nay, not only can, but always has. 
This divine expression of the Christian faith is a normal 
feature of Christian history. Whether from the pro- 
gress of religious experience, from the changes of the 
times, from the fashion of thinking, or from whatever 


84 


cause besides, the history of the church has been 
marked all along by periods and epochs in which some 
one or other of these various expressions of the faith 
has been dominant. 

A former mode of thinking would be thrown into 
perspective, and a new one occupy the foreground, and 
so on in periodical and regular sequence. Each would 
slide into the next insensibly until the fresh develop- 
ment would utter itself in some pronounced way to 
arrest the attention and make the church know that a 
new epoch had dawned. Just as the hands of a clock 
glide on from one figure to another and we are uncon- 
scious of the lapse until the clock strikes and gives 
notice of a new hour 'begun. And this Christian his- 
tory is like a clock work in another respect, for it is a 
rotary history, always repeating itself. There is only a 
definite number of figures upon the dial of the clock to 
which the hands must point, so there is only certain 
variety of religious thinking and feeling possible to the 
human soul, which when they have been experienced 
in succession, must begin again and follow in the same 
periodical circuit. And just as the differing numbers of 
the dial denote a true succession, while the interior 
motive power is in order and the hands pivoted at the 
centre, so these diverse expressions of religious life are 
true while actuated by a living faith in the central 
atoning sacrifice. But if the clock’s mechanism be 
deranged then the hands stand still and denote no more 
the true time, but only a dead and worthless fixedness, 
and it must go to its maker to be restored. And so if 
any form or school of Christian faith separate itself 


85 


from the atonement it becomes a lifeless fallacy, with 
no power to convert, or to edify, or to save the soul, a 
Christless system that must pass away and be lost like 
everything else that has no Saviour. 

This various development of the faith which I have 
said is characteristic of Christian history is true not 
only in the large way but in smaller ways. The makro- 
cosm has always a great many microcosms to represent 
it. So that we may take the same sort of changes in 
the life of a particular parish as in the church at 
large and with every new generation in a parish we can 
mark a modified form of the beliefs in which the parish 
was first trained. 

As I speak so I can hardly help looking to this 
church to find my illustration. And I recall to thought 
the saintly man under whose ministry this organic 
church almost sprang into strange life and full fledged 
power, that made it speedily only the second church in 
the Diocese. Numbers flocked to his ministry almost 
as doves to their windows. 

So quick was the success that although the church 
had lingered through several years of languid prepara- 
tion and almost of doubtful life, ready to die, this mas- 
terful ascendancy seemed to have no infancy at all. 
The church seemed just born, yet robed with powerful 
life. 

The preaching of this spiritually minded man of God 
was a full enforcement of the Divine Sovereignty lead- 
ing straight to the cross of the atoning Emanuel. He 
determined to know nothing else among this people 
save Jesus Christ and him crucified, and the living fruits 


86 


of his ministry of three years were a multitude of men 
and women zealous for God and instant in good words 
and works. 

Such was the condition and character of this church 
when at the beginning of my ministry it became my 
pleasant lot to be its Rector, nearly a generation and a 
half ago. Forty- three years give ample time for all 
sorts of changes in a parish. The goings and the 
comings, the deaths and the births, may almost obliter- 
ate the likeness to its early self and only a few may 
remember the temple in its first glory. But there is 
always an inherited and traditional influence which 
clings to a congregation and gives it in its survival the 
stamp and complexion of its pedigree, especially when 
its origin was marked by strong vitality. It has been 
so, I believe, with this church, which retains freshly its 
religious activities, and in the complexional variety of 
its teachings has always moored its faith and hope and 
life to the cross of Him “ who made there a full, per- 
fect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction” for 
human sin. 

Here the central mount of the Lord is unobscured, 
and he has always been seen upon it. May it always 
be so. May this church’s history always be rotary, 
revolving round the cross, and then will every variety 
of teaching be both beautiful and safe and saving. For 
whenever an idiosyncracy or peculiarity of belief pur- 
sues a right-lined advance it becomes only a tangent to 
the charmed and holy circle of the faith, it soon grows 
to be exclusive and passes on to an exile of solitude in 
a wilderness where there is only darkness or malaria or 


87 


starvation. As the history of the Christian faith has 
gone on so it will continue to go, no doubt, as long as 
men live in this world of faith. 

The dial of the clock will still carry its fixed figures, 
denoting the successive changes and periods of belief. 
But bye and bye there comes an end to all this. There 
comes a last day when as the hands come together, the 
clock will strike the period of high noon, and then stand 
still forever. The life of faith and probation for man- 
kind is finished. The other life of vision and destiny is 
opened in noontide glory at the coming of the personal 
Christ. All varieties of belief will be instantly merged 
in the conviction of seeing. The several schools of 
religious thought which sprang from temper or tempera- 
ment or training, will easily adjust themselves to the 
truth of the revealed Christ, and we know what that 
revelation will be, “ I beheld and lo ! in the midst of 
the throne and of the four beasts and of the elders 
stood a Lamb as it had been slain.” It is the lamb that 
God found in the place of Isaac. So that Calvary is 
the true Jehovah-Jireh in heaven as well as here. 

And there was a song, “Thou art worthy for thou 
hast redeemed us to God by thy blood,” so that the 
absorbing consciousness in heaven is the grateful love 
of a forgiven sinner. And ought it not to be so here, 
if we would be prepared for it there ? Can any thing 
match it as a power of spiritual renewal, a power of 
religious activity, a power of hope and of charity ? As 
the delighted contemplation of heaven is the Crucified, 
and as all sorts of Christians wish to die at His feet, 
shall we not anticipate that melody of delight and pre- 


88 


pare to die thus, to live thus by keeping in view the 
slain Lamb of the Mount Jehovah-Jireh, and letting its 
melody breathe from our lives ? 

“ All praise to the Lamb, accepted I am 
Through faith in the Saviour’s adorable name, 

In Him I confide, His blood is applied, 

For me He hath suffered, for me He hath died ; 

Not a doubt can arise to darken the skies 
Or hide for one moment my Lord from my eyes ; 

In Him I am blest, I lean on his breast, 

And lo! in His wounds I continue to rest.” 


V 
















t 







Entered trpox the Rectorship of Grace Church, 
1871, AND RESIGNED IN JULY, 1872. 


in February, 


















NATURE AND GRACE, 

A SERMON 


Preached in Grace Church, Sunday Evening, May 18tli, 1879. 


BY THE 


REV. C. GEORGE CURRIE, D. L>., 


HECTOR OF ST. LUKE’S CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 


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SERMON. 


- 0 - 


I. Samuel, xxxi. : 4. — “ Therefore Saul took a sword and fell upon it.” 

II. Timothy, iv. : 6, 7. — “For I am now ready to be offered, and the 
time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, 1 have 
finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for 
me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge will give 
me at that day.” 

In the conclusion of the speech given in a previous 
chapter, in which the prophet Samuel signified his with- 
drawal from public office, ere retiring into comparatively 
private life, we find the prophet pointing out by a sign 
from heaven the error that the people had committed in 
choosing the rule of an earthly King. “ Is it not wheat 
harvest to-day, I will call unto the Lord and He shall 
send thunder and rain, that ye may perceive and see 
that your wickedness is great which ye have done in the 
sight of the Lord in asking you a King.” 

More impressive by far, however, than the storm of 
rain and lightning that ensued upon the prophet’s 
prayer, is the warning, subsequently given, in the char- 
acter and fall of the first monarch himself — a warning 
the more significant that he was, as we shall see, the 
conspicuous possessor of extraordinary natural gifts. 


/ 


92 


The popular temper at the time of which we speak 
had fallen off from simple manners into a taste for the 
show of power. Hence the wish for a leader whose 
brilliant endowments would add lustre to the nation that 
he governed. The rulers of neighboring kingdoms 
were distinguished in this way. Israel, upon the con- 
trary, possessed no more in the prophet Samuel than a 
deeply pious man — now, as he himself expressed it, 
“ old, and gray-headed,” who owed his ability for admin- 
istration not so much to natural attainments, as to grace 
daily given from heaven, and who had aimed at little 
more than the maintenance of such integrity that none 
would charge him with having defrauded any during 
the long course of years that he had sat by the gate of 
judgment. The Philistine Kings were a great deal bet- 
ter than this. Therefore Israel likewise must have a 
King, a splendid King, a genius of a King, who, with 
crown and sceptre, and a large train of followers, would 
move in stately procession to judgment, and march to 
battle in the pomp of war, thus giving to the Hebrew 
people a conspicuous distinction among the nations. 

This, and more than this, they have shortly in Saul, 
the first monarch. We know, too, what came of it all. 
And it seems to us that the tragic story is meant not 
merely to teach the Hebrews their folly in asking a 
King, but is also intended to exhibit the more general 
truth that personal greatness, or true royalty of char- 
acter, is not the outcome of unassisted natural ability. 
“ Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith 
the Lord of Hosts.” 

In order, however, that the lesson may be the more 


93 


impressive, the natural gifts, and even the natural dis- 
position of the King, are in their way admirable, which 
is clearly consistent with the end in view, as indeed 
nothing else would have been. Had a man been chosen 
who was inferior in talent, or who fell below the 
standard of the time in the matter of morals, it would 
have been said that his failure was due to these defi- 
ciencies, rather than to any want of supernatural grace. 
Had a vicious character been selected, the warning 
would have been entirely lost. The notorious Ahab, 
for example, of a later date, though able, was a con- 
summately wicked man. He was sensual, he was cow- 
ardly, he was cruel. He was mean. He was deceitful. 
He was, indeed, such a combination of vices that we 
can say with justice of him, what Macaulay says of 
Barere, that while in all sorts of iniquity Ahab has had 
rivals, yet when everything is put together, sensuality 
and poltroonery and baseness, mendacity and barbarity, 
the result is something which is scarcely paralleled in 
the history of the w r orld. Now had Saul been a man 
like this, his failure w r ould have been a matter of course, 
and his terrible end would not have taught the lesson 
that it does. But Saul was not such a man. On the 
contrary, he w ? as actually better in some respects than 
many who are commonly regarded as examples. He 
was not mean as even Jacob was at the beginning of his 
career. He was not sensual as Solomon. He was not 
idolatrous as a number of his successors. He was 
neither cowardly nor cruel. Nay, it’s a remarkable 
thing and corroborates our view of the drift of the story, 
that of naturally vicious traits, of natural moral disad- 


94 


vantages, spoiling influence and hindering success, it 
is difficult to put your finger on any in the character of 
Saul. There were instances of vanity towards the close 
of his career, yet Moses himself was not more modest 
than the future King when first introduced to Samuel, 
and if he was sometimes jealous of others rivalling him 
in public favor, it was no more than what public men 
are ever apt to be. The exceptions in any age are rare. 
We repeat, then, there was no vicious trait compelling 
failure, but a great deal that looked the other way. The 
character was in many respects a strong one. The 
King’s administrative ability was unquestionable. He 
established monarchical government, and was the first 
of a line of Kings that lasted for over a thousand years. 
These were no puny hands that could lay foundations 
so deep and strong and enduring. There were none of 
the weak sentimentalities in him that belong to timid 
natures, while the exercise of war and the pressure of 
responsibility prevented indolence, or the kindred 
meaner vices. He had not only a strong intellect, but 
a kind heart. Everybody liked him even though they 
blamed. We read, “The prophet came no more to see the 
King unto the day of his death,” but “ Samuel mourned 
for Saul,” which, under the circumstances, he would 
scarcely have done had the offender been otherwise 
than a loveable man. Both the lowest people and the 
highest seemed to have the same feeling about him. 
No idea was more abhorrent to the Hebrews than that 
of suicide. Yet Saul’s body-servant gave up his life at 
his master’s side on the mountain of Gilboa. The 
warning of the monarch’s career, therefore, is perhaps 


95 


as impressive as it could possibly have been made. The 
terrible issue transpires in a naturally kind nature, and 
in spite of endowments such as are rarely given to men. 
It is the blasting of the monarch of the forest. Saul is 
every inch a King as he strides to battle with the 
“ diadem” we read of, and the “ bracelet ” on his arm, 
and with the tall spear that was his sceptre, from which 
he never parted. Gigantic child of nature ! He re- 
minds us of Homer’s Agamemnon with the golden 
studded staff. His very errors are indications of high 
possibilities of power. He has the hardihood to offer 
sacrifice without mediation of prophet or priest. In 
spite of his unquestionable affection for his son, he is on 
the point of putting him to death for breaking a mili- 
tary law. And the key of the whole, the explanation 
I mean, of the ultimate fearful failure, is to be found, 
we believe, in the very expression that we have now 
used — Saul is “ The child of nature.” 

You have no doubt frequently observed that there is 
a vast difference of some kind between the heroes of 
the classical divinities on the one hand, and the heroic 
characters of Holy Scripture on the other. The former 
are notoriously dominated by their impulses, and are 
represented as acting, or as refraining from action, only 
according as their emotions lead them in one direction 
or another. They have strong bodies plus a correspond- 
ingly strong self will. Such are the warriors of Homer r 
whose very glory it is that they always act out their 
pleasure, reasonable or unreasonable, right or wrong, 
but with God’s people it is otherwise. While the great- 
ness of the former class is measured by strength of feel- 


96 


ing, the greatness of the latter class, as of the prophets, 
for example, St. Paul, is measured by their ability to 
regulate the inclinations, and to curb the feelings ; in 
other words, not by the amount of feeling, but by the 
power of self restraint. The strength of the one is the 
strength of nature. The strength of the other is the 
strength of grace. There is a consequent difference in 
the endurance of the two. The endurance of the one is 
measurable, being strictly proportioned to the natural 
faculties that such men possess, and to the natural op- 
portunities in the midst of which they are placed. The 
endurance of the other class is always unmeasurable, 
since the power to maintain it is derived at every mo- 
ment, according as it is needed, from the Fountain of 
immeasurable strength, the “ power of an endless life.” 
Hence the great men of Homer never rose above them- 
selves ; the good men of the Bible always do rise above 
themselves. “ Not I,” says St. Paul, u but Christ that 
liveth in me.” Each is a King in his own way, but the 
kingdom of the one is temporary, the royalty of the 
other is enduring And the very gist of the story of 
Saul is the revelation it discovers to the world, that a 
King in sinews, a King in brain, a King in tempera- 
ment, is not really or enduringly a King at all, per- 
manent success being won in quite another way. Saul, 
we take it, is neither more nor less than a Homeric 
hero. He is a Hector or Agamemnon speaking He- 
brew. His conduct is directed by his passions, and his 
passions are like the waves of the sea. “ His mind is a 
door unhinged, and like every unhinged mind moves on 
no principle, but swings and bangs with every wind.” 


97 


Take, in illustration of this, two opposite instances in 
his history — the one good, and the other evil. Having 
a heart readily quivering to the touch of music, and 
very impressible also by devotional ideas, Saul, on one 
occasion, gives utterance to hymns, as the prophets did, 
and so ably, too, as an improvisation of elevated thought 
and language, that he is spoken of as inspired. A 
u new heart is given to him,” as the expression is. In 
the same way, near the close of his life, the King is 
once more in an exstacy of religious fervor, so much 
so, and with such wild enthusiasm, that he cannot bear 
the restraint even of his outer garment, but lies down 
naked, 44 all that day and all that night.” 

On the other hand, however, we have also another 
very different story. 44 And it came to pass on the mor- 
row that the evil spirit came upon Saul, and he prophe- 
cied in the midst of the house. And David played 
with his hand as at other times, and there was a javelin, 
or spear, in Saul’s hand, and Saul cast the javelin, for 
he said, 4 I will smite David even to the wall.’ ” 

Evidently then the man was as prone to evil as he 
was to good. Each disposition was a mere humor. 
His pleasure could never be anticipated, or his conduct 
reckoned upon, so that upon the whole our explanation 
seems to be just. Without respect for law, human or di- 
vine ; nay, without process of reasoning, he is imme- 
diately set a going, and is precipitated into action by 
auy emotion that occurs to him of whatever kind, and 
by any circumstances in which he is placed. He knows 
as little of obedience to a higher law, or of ruling his 
spirit, as a tiger. Hence the evil, hence the apparent 
13 


98 


good. The laws of Heaven he regards so little, that 
when' Samuel prophecies his ruin, the King has no 
higher desire than for the keeping up of appearances. 
He prays that the prophet will still treat him as King 
“ in the eyes of the elders of the people.” Reforma- 
tion never occurs to him. God’s pardon is unthought 
of. Repentance never dawns upon his mind any more 
than upon Hector or Ulysses. And this brings us to 
his end. A friend once assured us that when he stood 
some years ago on the side of the Gilboa range, he 
found it impossible to attend much to the natural 
grandeur of the landscape, for the horror associated 
with it through the suicide of Saul, and yet the scene 
itself is not unworthy of the recollections that lie upon 
it. The unbroken barrenness that looks as if it had 
been wasted by fire and flood, is fittingly enough asso- 
ciated with the memory of the great sinner whom God 
permitted to become his own executioner in punishment 
of his sins. And w r hat a sight it was — Saul dead. 
There are some bodies that after death still wear a 
bloom upon them of sweetness and light and love. 
There are others that have a sort of ashen gray, as if 
they had lost their proper color under the blighting of 
a curse. The light does not fall upon them genially. 
We would not have children touch them. And such 
must have seemed the fallen King, with the now 
clammy hair that Samuel had once anointed, and the 
bleeding lips that but a few years before had so re- 
sponded to prophets’ harps and sung Jehovah’s praises, 
that men said he was inspired. We turn away with the 
question — poor heart, is it damned forever? And the 


99 


faithful boy who fell with him, like the traveler’s dog 
that Scott writes of, that “ sobbed out his life by his mas- 
ter’s side on the heather of Cathedicam.” But we 
should not like to have an end like that. We should 
not like to have a life like that — mere natural ability 
unrestrained and unprincipled, without self-denial and 
without faith. 

Turn now to the other Saul. He also lived in a 
transition period. He also laid foundations, but the 
task of the King was slight compared with the task of 
the Apostle. The King moved with the current of the 
popular will ; the x\postle had it all against him. The 
King had to hold and extend an earthly kingdom, which 
the more firmly he held, and the more widely he ex- 
tended, the louder applause he received from those 
whose applause he craved. But Saul of Tarsus has a 
different mission. He has to resist not merely the 
world without, but his own countrymen and his dearest 
friends. He has actually to destroy the system with 
which he was identified by truth and education. In 
order to preach the truth he has to seem to men untrue. 
He has to tear up the prejudices not merely of the 
heathen, but of his dearest friends. 46 His opponents 
are not merely Roman Governors or heathen mobs, but 
those who make their boast of Moses, and claim to be 
equally disciples of the Christ.” He has a conflict with 
Pagans. He has a harder conflict with Judea Ene- 
mies in front, but more bitter enemies behind, who dog 
his steps, deny his authority, and in assaulting him judge 
his motives. This is the situation of Saul of Tarsus, 
yet how different his conduct from that of the son of 


100 


Kish. The King takes his life because of one defeat. 
The Apostle is 44 in labors more abundant, in stripes above 
measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft, beaten 
with rods, stoned and shipwrecked, in weariness and 
painfulness, in hunger and thirst, in cold and naked- 
ness.” But listen, because He said unto me, my 
strength is made perfect in weakness, therefore shall I 
fall upon my sword. No, no. But therefore most 
gladly will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of 
Christ may rest upon me. 44 Therefore,” marvellous 
language ! 44 1 take pleasure in necessities and perse- 

cutions and reproaches and disasters for Christ’s sake. 
When I am weak then am'T strong.” Never was there 
a happier life. Not because he had his own will, but 
because he was content to do without his own will, hav- 
ing made the resolve and having kept it. 44 This one 
thing I do. I press forward toward the mark for the 
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” He 
did not see his labors clothed with success, or at least 
only in small measure, but he saw Jesus the finisher, as 
well as author of his faith, giving the increase in his 
own time and way. Saul, the King, was the slave of 
his own passion and caprice and will. Therefore the 
vacillating life, and the miserable, disgraceful end. 
Paul, the Apostle, was Jesus’ servant, the servant not of 
an idea, but of a person ; not of a theology, but of a 
Heavenly Master, and from the day that he was blinded 
with the light near Damascus, to the hour that he en- 
tered upon fuller light at his martyrdom, he lived to do 
the work of Him to whom he said, at first, 44 What wilt 
thou have me to do T St. Paul found his whole aim 



101 


\ 


and life in Jesus Christ. ?Ie had been chosen in Christ, 
ordained in Christ, accepted in Christ. He lived to 
glorify Christ, and expected to be glorified in Christ. 
This gave unity to the man’s purposes, serenity to his 
distresses, rest to his frequent weariness, liberty to his 
bondage, consolation to his disappointments, and dignity 
to his apparent failures. And therefore when death 
came, it found a King who could look at it with quiet 
eye, as the lips calmly uttered the words, 44 1 am now 
ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at 
hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid 
up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the 
righteous Judge shall give me at that day.” 

After all that has been said, and so well said, with 
regard to the history of this parish, after yesterday’s 
historical narration in whose representations of the last 
fifty years beauty and justice were so happily blended, 
it would be worse than superfluous to add anything de- 
rived from my own brief experience, so brief, that I am 
always surprised every time I come here, at the cordial 
way in which my ministry among you seems to be still 
kept in mind. On this subject of the parish, therefore, 
I shall say no more than express the sincere prayer that 
the next fifty years may be blessed to this house of God 
as much and even more than the last half century has 
been, and that the walls of this edifice may be increas- 
ingly consecrated as the years go on with the associa- 
tions of prayers made and answered, and of sweet com- 
munion with the blessed Lord. 

To the persons now listening to me, however, let me 


102 


say something more by way of applying the lessons we 
have drawn from these two notable lives. Nothing can 
be more certain than that the future years of your life 
will contain some forms of trial. For example, it is 
impossible for us to go through the world without occa- 
sionally finding it imposed upon us as a duty to contend 
against great odds on behalf of truth and righteousness. 
There are circumstances under which silence is wrong, 
and peace is criminal. 

There are times when an honest man’s conscience 
compels him to recollect that he is something better 
than a spectator in the world, and that the account he 
will be called to give at the end will not be merely that 
of a traveler. In our time, perhaps in every time, the 
air is full of grave questions, whose decision must be 
followed by lasting consequences both to religion and 
to the country. The strong temptation is to act with 
the majority always, to move with the strongest and 
cheer with the loudest. It is hard to stand by what the 
world rejects. It is hard to repose calmly on your own 
deepest thought. It is hard to live upon your own con- 
victions of what is right, and hold by them and abide 
by them, and not be over anxious to be heard or under- 
stood or sympathized with, confident that in the end, 
though it may be years after you are in your grave, the 
truth will prevail, and the world will come round. We 
shrink from the consequences of God’s law. We look 
round and cling in a dependent manner. We ask what 
others will think. We ask what men will say. It 
looks to us as if there were a sort of disgrace in stand- 
ing quite alone. 


103 


Then, again, as there are times when we are called to 
fight, so there are times when we are called to sutler. 
The temptations of the world are no trifle. To see 
others with less brain and inferior powers in every way, 
who have possibly started behind you in the race, grad- 
ually overtake you and tread upon your heels and pass 
you, to hear the world’s applause of them as they speed 
ahead of you, to see them crowned with everything that 
makes the present life enjoyable, and yourself lagging 
behind and growing faint and weary because you are 
weighted with something that they have cast off, fidelity 
to Jesus Christ; or, worse still, to see wife and children 
compelled to lag behind with you in a humble lot and a 
hard life, and not always, poor things, uncomplainingly; 
to know, with all this, that youth is passing, middle life 
may be gone, or possibly the decays of old age already 
upon you, to have, the foreboding that your early hopes 
are to be disappointed, and that you can only now creep 
to the grave comparatively unknown and poor, and at 
last leave to the children around your bed no other in- 
heritance than the clean white name of an honest father 
— well, what is it ? State the case at its worst, even 
then, brethren, this church in which we are now assem- 
bled is not large enough to hold the fortune that would 
correspond in magnitude and glory to the heritage which, 
under such circumstances, you leave to your boys and 
girls, since it is that very fidelity to God’s law that has 
made the glory of St. Paul, nay the glory of the King of 
Kings Himself, His sceptre. His crown, His throne, and 
His name above every name. What will you do, then, 
when the call thus comes to contend or to suffer ? Will 


104 

you yield, as Saul yielded, or will you, like the Apostle, 
so stand in a Higher Strength than your own, as to be 
able to say when all things are done, and all the conflict 
past, I am now ready to be offered, I have fought the 
good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the 
faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
glory which the Lord the righteous Judge will give me 
at that day T 
















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